As a prelude to the next podcast series on Gardner Writes, here’s a reading I did a couple of weeks ago of poetry by Andrew Marvell. The reading was part of our UMW “Thursday Poems” series, a marvelous tradition begun by now-professor-emeritus Bill Kemp. The idea is to congregate at 5 p.m. on Thursday afternoons to hear someone read poetry for thirty minutes. No lectures, little explanatory material, just a time to share compelling poetry with each other. I recorded several of these “Thursday Poems” readings over the last couple of years and will be podcasting them by and by.

Marvell’s a fascinating poet whose lyrics are often cited as models of ambiguity, philosophical complexity, and stubborn elusiveness (perhaps to the point of evasion). I begin with his commendatory poem on Milton’s Paradise Lost. (Marvell was a friend of Milton, and legend has it he helped spring Milton from prison at the Restoration, when Charles II put to death many supporters of his father’s execution.) I end with Marvell’s most famous poem, “To His Coy Mistress,” a poem that’s at once beautiful and savage.

The reading:
“On Mr. Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost'”
“An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland”
“The Garden”
“The Mower Against Gardens”
“Damon The Mower”
“To His Coy Mistress”

I’m also posting the reading at our UMW “profcast” site, www.profcast.org. There’ll be more readings and lectures there as time goes on. The first UMW Profcast features Claudia Emerson reading from her own poetry. Mine is a poor companion to Claudia’s, but the idea here is to keep the ball rolling, so that we’ll do.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (16.9MB)