Robert Pinsky (2011)

For the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series 2011, Robert Pinsky read from his work on October 4th in the Folger's Elizabethan Theatre. His reading was partly inspired by the Folger exhibition Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible on view September 23, 2011 to January 14, 2012. Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library Michael Whitmore introduced Pinsky and moderated the conversation.

Robert Pinsky

Robert Pinsky’s work riffs on the human experience, in language that is probing and intellectual. Pinsky, who served an unprecedented three terms as United States Poet Laureate, teaches at Boston University and is the poetry editor of Slate. His books of poetry include Selected Poems, Gulf Music, Jersey Music, and The History of My Heart. He is also the author of the prose book The Life of David and is a well-known and award-winning translator. He has written several books about poetry including Poetry and the World, which was nominated for a National Books Critics Circle Award, and The Sounds of Poetry.

Excerpts

From "Rhyme"*

Air an instrument of the tongue, The tongue an instrument Of the body, the body An instrument of the spirit, The spirit a being of the air.

• Excerpted from Selected Poems by Robert Pinsky, published in April 2011 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. Copyright © 2011 by Robert Pinsky. All rights reserved.

Listen to Robert Pinsky read his poetry at the Folger Shakespeare Library on October 4, 2011.