Pleasures of Poetry 2017
Noel Jackson, Associate Professor of Literature
This popular activity – which aims to reach all lovers of poetry – has been offered every IAP for the last twenty years. Each one-hour session is devoted to a single poet, usually a single poem. The goal is discussion and shared pleasure. No lectures or professorial arrogance allowed. Some participants attend every session, but many others attend only once or twice to read and discuss a favorite poet or poem. The roster of poets is always immensely diverse: from ancient Chinese masters to contemporary American poets laureate, from such famous Greats as Shakespeare, Keats, and Auden to Dr. Seuss and Bob Dylan. Discussion and collaborative close reading are the aim and ideal of each hour.
View our full packet of poems and moderators
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Repeating event, participants welcome at any session
When: Mon – Fri 1:00 – 2:00 PM (excluding Jan. 16 & 31)
Where: 14E-304
Sponsor(s): Literature Section
Contact: Chloe J. Jones (617) 258-5629 cjjones@mit.edu
Mobile Reading Marathon: Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own
Marah Gubar, Associate Professor of Literature
“I can’t bear lecturing,” wrote Virginia Woolf, as she struggled to produce the text of what would eventually become A Room of One’s Own (1929), “it takes ages, and I do it vilely.” Written to be read amidst the domes and towers of a prestigious university by a river, Woolf’s luminous meditation on how creative minds work (and what impedes their full flourishing) explores what it means that minds inhabit bodies, and bodies inhabit particular spaces and times.
Hoping to bring some extra warmth to the icy days of IAP, the Literature Section invites you to bask in the “the rich yellow flame of rational intercourse”: to join us as we read aloud Woolf’s brilliant, self-questioning, unconventional essay in its entirety, in different locations around the MIT campus linked to the ones that Woolf describes in Room.
“No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.” Come from start to finish, or just drop by for a little while; all are welcome. Books, good fellowship, and refreshment provided. After all, “one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
Tweet as you participate: #ROOMatMIT
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
When: Tue. Jan 31, 2017 ; 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Where: View full list of times & locations here
Sponsor(s): Literature Section
Contact: Chloe J. Jones (617) 258-5629 cjjones@mit.edu