Poetry Letters

For almost ten years I have been sending out letters on poets and their poems. This website is linked to all those letters…

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Huck Gutman

Past Letters

1. Introduction: A History of How These Letters on Poetry Came into Existence - from the U.S. Senate and Bernie Sanders, to the University of Vermont, to Today
1. Introduction: A History of How These Letters on Poetry Came into Existence - from the U.S. Senate and Bernie Sanders, to the University of Vermont, to Today
2. On Reading These Pages - A Short Note
2. On Reading These Pages - A Short Note
3. First Mailing: A brief introduction to these letters, referring to Whitman and William Carlos Williams…
3. First Mailing: A brief introduction to these letters, referring to Whitman and William Carlos Williams…
4. Zbigniew Herbert, “Five Men” 
4. Zbigniew Herbert, “Five Men” 
5. Eugenio Montale, “Perhaps One Morning”
5. Eugenio Montale, “Perhaps One Morning”
6. William Wordsworth, “A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal”
6. William Wordsworth, “A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal”
7. William Carlos Williams, “To a Poor Old Woman”
7. William Carlos Williams, “To a Poor Old Woman”
8. Robert Frost, “The Oven Bird ” 
8. Robert Frost, “The Oven Bird ” 
9. Pablo Neruda, “Ode to Tomatoes”
9. Pablo Neruda, “Ode to Tomatoes”
10. Elizabeth Bishop, “Sandpiper”
10. Elizabeth Bishop, “Sandpiper”
11. A Holiday Gift: “An Extraordinary Adventure Which Befell Vladimir Mayakovsky In a Summer Cottage”
11. A Holiday Gift: “An Extraordinary Adventure Which Befell Vladimir Mayakovsky In a Summer Cottage”
12. Elizabeth Bishop, “In the Waiting Room”
12. Elizabeth Bishop, “In the Waiting Room”
13. Robert Hayden, “Frederick Douglass”
13. Robert Hayden, “Frederick Douglass”
14. Anne Carson, “Essay on What I Think About Most”
14. Anne Carson, “Essay on What I Think About Most”
15. Walt Whitman, “The Wound-Dresser”
15. Walt Whitman, “The Wound-Dresser”
16. Music and Transcendence: Beethoven, Mahler, Schonberg – and Rilke
16. Music and Transcendence: Beethoven, Mahler, Schonberg – and Rilke
17. Emily Dickinson, “As Imperceptibly as Grief”
17. Emily Dickinson, “As Imperceptibly as Grief”
18. Constantine Cavafy, “Comes to Rest”
18. Constantine Cavafy, “Comes to Rest”
19. William Wordsworth, “The World is Too Much With Us"
19. William Wordsworth, “The World is Too Much With Us"
20. A. R. Ammons, “Corson’s Inlet”
20. A. R. Ammons, “Corson’s Inlet”
21. A.E. Housman, “Terence, This is Stupid Stuff”
21. A.E. Housman, “Terence, This is Stupid Stuff”
22. Zbigniew Herbert, “The Envoi of Mr. Cogito”
22. Zbigniew Herbert, “The Envoi of Mr. Cogito”
23. Charles Ives, “The Things Our Fathers Loved”
23. Charles Ives, “The Things Our Fathers Loved”
24. Gwendolyn Brooks, “We Real Cool” and “The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock”
24. Gwendolyn Brooks, “We Real Cool” and “The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock”
25. Seamus Heaney, “Singing School: 4. Summer 1969”
25. Seamus Heaney, “Singing School: 4. Summer 1969”
26. Charles Baudelaire, “A Rotting Corpse”
26. Charles Baudelaire, “A Rotting Corpse”
27. Vladimir Mayakovsky, "At the Top of My Voice"
27. Vladimir Mayakovsky, "At the Top of My Voice"
28. Dickinson and Wordsworth: Spring Poems: “I dreaded that first robin so” and “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
28. Dickinson and Wordsworth: Spring Poems: “I dreaded that first robin so” and “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
29. James Dickey, “The Bee”
29. James Dickey, “The Bee”
30. Maxine Kumin, “How It Is”
30. Maxine Kumin, “How It Is”
31. Zbigniew Herbert The Utility of Poems “Mr Cogito Reads the Newspaper”
31. Zbigniew Herbert The Utility of Poems “Mr Cogito Reads the Newspaper”
32. Rilke, “Ninth Duino Elegy”
32. Rilke, “Ninth Duino Elegy”
33. Larkin, Three Poems: “This Be the Verse,” “Mower,” and “Aubade”
33. Larkin, Three Poems: “This Be the Verse,” “Mower,” and “Aubade”
34. Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach”
34. Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach”
35. On the Limits of the Imagination
35. On the Limits of the Imagination
36. Gerard Manley Hopkins, “No Worst, there is none”
36. Gerard Manley Hopkins, “No Worst, there is none”
37. Guillaume Apollinaire “The Little Car”
37. Guillaume Apollinaire “The Little Car”
38. A lighthearted interlude: Rossini
38. A lighthearted interlude: Rossini
39. Arthur Rimbaud, “The Sleeper in the Valley” and “At the Cabaret Vert”
39. Arthur Rimbaud, “The Sleeper in the Valley” and “At the Cabaret Vert”
40. Bertolt Brecht, “When Evil-Doing Comes Like Falling Rain”
40. Bertolt Brecht, “When Evil-Doing Comes Like Falling Rain”
41. Paul Celan, “Once” and also “The Trumpet-Part”
41. Paul Celan, “Once” and also “The Trumpet-Part”
42. Wilbur, “Love Calls Us to the Things of This World”
42. Wilbur, “Love Calls Us to the Things of This World”
43. Spring: Dickinson and Mandelstam “I dreaded that first robin so” and “And I was Alive” plus briefly Wilbur [Seed-leaves] and Ammons
43. Spring: Dickinson and Mandelstam “I dreaded that first robin so” and “And I was Alive” plus briefly Wilbur [Seed-leaves] and Ammons
44. Frost “Nothing Gold Can Stay”
44. Frost “Nothing Gold Can Stay”
45. Rilke “On Music”
45. Rilke “On Music”
46. Stevens: “Not Ideas About the Thing But the Thing Itself”
46. Stevens: “Not Ideas About the Thing But the Thing Itself”
47. Paul Zimmer, “A Romance for the Wild Turkey”
47. Paul Zimmer, “A Romance for the Wild Turkey”
48. William Carlos Williams, “Calypsos II,” a very short poem
48. William Carlos Williams, “Calypsos II,” a very short poem
49. Du Bellay and Baudelaire: “Heureux qui” and “Le Voyage”
49. Du Bellay and Baudelaire: “Heureux qui” and “Le Voyage”
50. William Bolcom “Lime Jell-O Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise:”  Music, fun, and short
50. William Bolcom “Lime Jell-O Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise:”  Music, fun, and short
51. Mallarme and Yeats: “La Chair est triste” and “The Circus Animals’ Desertion”
51. Mallarme and Yeats: “La Chair est triste” and “The Circus Animals’ Desertion”
52. Stevie Smith, “Not Waving but Drowning”
52. Stevie Smith, “Not Waving but Drowning”
53. W. H. Auden, “Two of the China Sonnets”
53. W. H. Auden, “Two of the China Sonnets”
54. John Keats, “When I have fears that I may cease to be,” about which the commentator reverses himself
54. John Keats, “When I have fears that I may cease to be,” about which the commentator reverses himself