As part of the 2011 Turnbull Poetry Lecture series, the Writing Seminars Department hosted Edna Longley, a well-known critic of modern Irish and British poetry in Mudd Hall Auditorium Monday. Her discourse revolved around various poets such as Louis MacNeice, Edward Thomas, and Robert Frost. Her lecture was organized under three headings: poetry and war, poetry and modernity and poetry and the ear.
At the beginning of the event, Mary Jo Salter, co-chair of the Writing Seminars Department, handed out a sheet with a plethora of poems such as "Poussin" and "The Sun Used to Shine" to all of the audience members. This sheet was intended to help the audience members read along with the various poems that Longley referenced throughout her lecture.
Longley's lecture was entitled "Atlantic Chasms," and she spoke briefly about its origins by referencing Robert Frost and the interchange between him and Edward Thomas.
"For me, the concept of international modernism obscures the national makings of poetry by American and Irish poetry," Longley said, as she interspersed the lecture with her opinions on the trend of poetry in the larger context.
"Poetry has also become 'poetries,' not a pretty plural," claimed Edna Longley as her lecture shifted from critical commentary of certain poetry and poets to the modern state of poetry.
Although a huge portion of the audience was students required to attend these poetry readings as part of IFP (Introduction to Fiction and Poetry), many of them did not find this a detriment to their experience in listening to Longley's presentation.
"I thought she was a very good critic and she sees a lot of things I never really thought about," freshman Sarah Hewes said, a Materials Science major required to attend the viewing as part of her IFP class. "If I had more time, I definitely would [attend more poetry lectures]."
"It was a great experience, I didn't expect this. I'm a huge poetry fan because of the culture in my family to learn poetry. I think it brings a new dimension for reading," freshman Lauren Bovard said. "As long as I know when they are, I'll go."
Many of the Poetry MFA (masters in fine arts) program participants sat in the front row and laughed at Edna's witty remarks as well as asked questions at the end of her lecture.
"These lectures are very important. In today's lecture, she talked about marketing poetry. Marketing poetry is very hard to do because people are looking more for mass literary production. So, in today's age, poetry is declining and these lectures are important in reminding people of the beauty of poetry," Callie Siskel, first year in the Poetry MFA program, said.
Salterstressed the history behind the Turnbull Lecture Series and importance of it. This lecture series started in 1981 in memory of Percy Turnbull. Percy Turnbull was born to a known family in Baltimore and showed a talent and love for poetry.
"We chose this speaker actually because David Smith, who was the chair last year, suggested her and her husband's names. Many of us have admired her mainly because American literary studies don't take into account what's happening in Britain and Ireland, " Salter said. "It was one of the best events. You can't create writing in a vacuum and this lecture will prove to be extremely beneficial to students."
