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Event Series Pleasures of Poetry 2023

Pleasures of Poetry 2023

Pleasures of Poetry meets this IAP 2023, and this year for four days before IAP begins, in 14E-304 from 1-2 p.m. every weekday from January 3-20, with the exception of MLK Jr. Day (Jan. 16). This popular activity – which aims to reach all those with an interest in poetry, regardless of experience level – has been offered every IAP for several decades. This will be the 27th year of Pleasures of Poetry at MIT. Each one-hour session is devoted to a poet or two, often a single poem, chosen by session leaders who volunteer to facilitate conversation for that day. Collaborative close reading is the aim and ideal of each hour. Some participants attend every session, but many others may drop in only once or twice during the series to discuss a favorite poet or poem, or to discover new favorites. The roster of poets is typically diverse — from classic Chinese poets to American poets laureate, and from such canonical figures as Shakespeare, Keats, Dickinson, and Bishop to contemporary poets including Eve L. Ewing, Alice Notley, and many more. Free and open to the public; as well as staff, alumni, and students. Pleasures of Poetry 2023 Poetry Booklet PDF  Schedule: January 3 – January 20 (with […]

Event Series Pleasures of Poetry 2023

Pleasures of Poetry 2023

Pleasures of Poetry meets this IAP 2023, and this year for four days before IAP begins, in 14E-304 from 1-2 p.m. every weekday from January 3-20, with the exception of MLK Jr. Day (Jan. 16). This popular activity – which aims to reach all those with an interest in poetry, regardless of experience level – has been offered every IAP for several decades. This will be the 27th year of Pleasures of Poetry at MIT. Each one-hour session is devoted to a poet or two, often a single poem, chosen by session leaders who volunteer to facilitate conversation for that day. Collaborative close reading is the aim and ideal of each hour. Some participants attend every session, but many others may drop in only once or twice during the series to discuss a favorite poet or poem, or to discover new favorites. The roster of poets is typically diverse — from classic Chinese poets to American poets laureate, and from such canonical figures as Shakespeare, Keats, Dickinson, and Bishop to contemporary poets including Eve L. Ewing, Alice Notley, and many more. Free and open to the public; as well as staff, alumni, and students. Pleasures of Poetry 2023 Poetry Booklet PDF  Schedule: January 3 – January 20 (with […]

Event Series Pleasures of Poetry 2023

Pleasures of Poetry 2023

Pleasures of Poetry meets this IAP 2023, and this year for four days before IAP begins, in 14E-304 from 1-2 p.m. every weekday from January 3-20, with the exception of MLK Jr. Day (Jan. 16). This popular activity – which aims to reach all those with an interest in poetry, regardless of experience level – has been offered every IAP for several decades. This will be the 27th year of Pleasures of Poetry at MIT. Each one-hour session is devoted to a poet or two, often a single poem, chosen by session leaders who volunteer to facilitate conversation for that day. Collaborative close reading is the aim and ideal of each hour. Some participants attend every session, but many others may drop in only once or twice during the series to discuss a favorite poet or poem, or to discover new favorites. The roster of poets is typically diverse — from classic Chinese poets to American poets laureate, and from such canonical figures as Shakespeare, Keats, Dickinson, and Bishop to contemporary poets including Eve L. Ewing, Alice Notley, and many more. Free and open to the public; as well as staff, alumni, and students. Pleasures of Poetry 2023 Poetry Booklet PDF  Schedule: January 3 – January 20 (with […]

Event Series Pleasures of Poetry 2023

Pleasures of Poetry 2023

Pleasures of Poetry meets this IAP 2023, and this year for four days before IAP begins, in 14E-304 from 1-2 p.m. every weekday from January 3-20, with the exception of MLK Jr. Day (Jan. 16). This popular activity – which aims to reach all those with an interest in poetry, regardless of experience level – has been offered every IAP for several decades. This will be the 27th year of Pleasures of Poetry at MIT. Each one-hour session is devoted to a poet or two, often a single poem, chosen by session leaders who volunteer to facilitate conversation for that day. Collaborative close reading is the aim and ideal of each hour. Some participants attend every session, but many others may drop in only once or twice during the series to discuss a favorite poet or poem, or to discover new favorites. The roster of poets is typically diverse — from classic Chinese poets to American poets laureate, and from such canonical figures as Shakespeare, Keats, Dickinson, and Bishop to contemporary poets including Eve L. Ewing, Alice Notley, and many more. Free and open to the public; as well as staff, alumni, and students. Pleasures of Poetry 2023 Poetry Booklet PDF  Schedule: January 3 – January 20 (with […]

Event Series Pleasures of Poetry 2023

Pleasures of Poetry 2023

Pleasures of Poetry meets this IAP 2023, and this year for four days before IAP begins, in 14E-304 from 1-2 p.m. every weekday from January 3-20, with the exception of MLK Jr. Day (Jan. 16). This popular activity – which aims to reach all those with an interest in poetry, regardless of experience level – has been offered every IAP for several decades. This will be the 27th year of Pleasures of Poetry at MIT. Each one-hour session is devoted to a poet or two, often a single poem, chosen by session leaders who volunteer to facilitate conversation for that day. Collaborative close reading is the aim and ideal of each hour. Some participants attend every session, but many others may drop in only once or twice during the series to discuss a favorite poet or poem, or to discover new favorites. The roster of poets is typically diverse — from classic Chinese poets to American poets laureate, and from such canonical figures as Shakespeare, Keats, Dickinson, and Bishop to contemporary poets including Eve L. Ewing, Alice Notley, and many more. Free and open to the public; as well as staff, alumni, and students. Pleasures of Poetry 2023 Poetry Booklet PDF  Schedule: January 3 – January 20 (with […]

Lit Tea

14N-417

When: Every Monday (except Holidays) during the semester Time: 4:15pm - 5:45pm Where: Room 14N-417 Come by for snacks, and tea with Literature Section friends, instructors, students, etc. What are you reading? What 21L classes are you taking or hoping to take? This event is specifically geared towards undergrads; but open to friends of the community that engage in the literary and humanities at MIT.

Lit Tea

14N-417

When: Every Monday (except Holidays) during the semester Time: 4:15pm - 5:45pm Where: Room 14N-417 Come by for snacks, and tea with Literature Section friends, instructors, students, etc. What are you reading? What 21L classes are you taking or hoping to take? This event is specifically geared towards undergrads; but open to friends of the community that engage in the literary and humanities at MIT.

Event Series Lit Tea

Lit Tea

14N-417

Every Monday (except Holidays) during the semester

Come by for snacks, and tea with Literature Section friends, instructors, students, etc. What are you reading? What 21L classes are you taking or hoping to take? This event is specifically geared towards undergrads; but open to friends of the community that engage in the literary and humanities at MIT.

Event Series Lit Tea

Lit Tea

14N-417

Every Monday (except Holidays) during the semester

Come by for snacks, and tea with Literature Section friends, instructors, students, etc. What are you reading? What 21L classes are you taking or hoping to take? This event is specifically geared towards undergrads; but open to friends of the community that engage in the literary and humanities at MIT.

MIT Literature Section presents, Lara Cohen “‘To Drop beneath the Floors of the Outer World’: Paschal Beverly Randolph’s Occult Undergrounds”

14E-304 160 MEMORIAL DR, CAMBRIDGE, MA, United States

Abstract: This talk focuses on Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825-1875), self-described “angular and eccentric” writer, Freedmen’s Bureau teacher, occultist, and sex magician. Antiblackness thwarted Randolph at every turn in his short life, but he contended that his experiences of alienation and hyperawareness had cultivated spiritual sensitivities that allowed him to access an unseen universe. Randolph wrote numerous handbooks, pamphlets, novels, memoirs, newspaper articles, and manifestos expounding his occult thought.

Literature Section
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue 14N-407
Cambridge, MA 02139
tel: (617) 253-3581