The NYPR Archives Celebrates National Poetry Month

A handwritten draft dated 9 March 1887 of his 1865 poem "O Captain, My Captain!" by American poet Walt Whitman, 1819-1892. This is likely a souvenir draft.

 

The New York Public Radio Archives celebrates National Poetry Month  We've pulled together some of the department's leading preservation work, series and sonic artifacts concerning poetry.

Stories

The Perils of Poetry, Promotion and Postage

Sometimes poetry works well to promote things. Sometimes not. Just don't ask for payment in stamps.
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W. H. Auden, Herbert Kubly, and John O'Hara Speak at the 1956 National Book Awards

W. H. Auden, Herbert Kubly, and John O'Hara win awards at the 1956 National Book Awards ceremony.
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Celebrating 50 Years of the Poetry Project

The Project is celebrating with a New Year’s Day Marathon Reading, featuring poets and other artists from throughout its history, plus new and emerging poets.
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Robert Frost is honored at a 1958 Poetry Society Dinner

"Does wisdom matter?" Robert Frost asks.
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W. H. Auden, an Appreciation

Archival audio of the poet from 1948, 1956, and 1972, and an appreciation of Auden and his times.
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e. e. cummings

e. e. cummings and David Allen read some of the poet's finest work in this 1962 memorial, while we consider the power of the written word.
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The Poet Laureate of Radio: Norman Corwin on WNYC and WQXR

Radio's greatest dramatist leaves his mark on both WNYC and WQXR.
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Robert Pinsky: An Introduction

Robert Pinsky discusses The Situation of Poetry, and his collection of poems, Sadness and Happiness. He talks also about how poetry can be anti-modern yet still contemporary.
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Amiri Baraka Reads "The Revolutionary Theater"

Amiri Baraka talks revolution at the Overseas Press Club
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Poetifully, Youngerly, Ogden Nash's Poetry Begs an Encore, Wonderfully

Ogden Nash talks poetry at this 1951 Book and Author Luncheon
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Vladimir Nabokov's Passionate Reading of 'An Evening of Russian Poetry,' 1958

Before the controversy of the American publication of Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov cuts a different figure at this 1958 Books and Authors Luncheon.
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Connie Converse Walking In the Dark

During the 1950s Connie Converse lived in New York City writing and singing thoughtful, emotional, smart, witty, personal songs. She accompanied herself on guitar, a "singer/songwrite...
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The Poet Speaks: Pastoral Tradition and the Search for Farmer Poets

A devotion to Mathew Arnold’s time-honored poem from 1867, Dover Beach and more
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'Embracing Geography': Does New York City Incubate Poets?

Packard asks the in-studio poets what it means to live in New York City, to write and to let the experience of New York City come into one’s own poetry.
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A Paradigm Shift For the Beat Generation

Kerouac breaths. Kerouac performs.
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