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Poetry

July 18, 2006 file photo of poet Richard Wilbur

Richard Wilbur, Esteemed Poet and Two-Time Pulitzer Winner, Dies at 96

He championed a formal style in an era dominated by experimental, confessional poetry

The front of a Nobel Prize medal.

The Perks and Pitfalls of Being a Nobel Laureate: Early Mornings, Performance Anxiety

On the plus side, at UC Berkeley you get free parking

The Smithsonian's well attended Asian-American Literature Festival could soon be traveling to other cities around the nation.

At the Smithsonian’s First Asian-American Lit Fest, Writers Share Falooda, Politics and Poetry

More than 80 award-winning and aspirational writers shared work across multiple genres

Art Meets Science

Is Jupiter the “Star” in Lord Byron’s Famous Poem?

According to astronomer Donald Olson, the brilliant star described in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage is actually a planet

Triple-Face Portrait by Sylvia Plath, c. 1950-1951

The Whimsical, Chameleon-Like Figure Behind the Myth of Sylvia Plath

Today, visions of a life marked by mental illness endure, but the author had a light side—and a knack for savvy image control

Library of Congress Names Tracy K. Smith As New Poet Laureate

Smith previously won a Pulitzer Prize for her work, which is by turns philosophical, fantastical and deeply personal

Thank Andrey Markov for your smartphone's predictive text feature—and also somewhat sillier uses.

Three Very Modern Uses For A Nineteenth-Century Text Generator

Andrey Markov was trying to understand poems with math when he created a whole new field of probability studies

Thoreau kept—and illustrated—journals throughout his lifetime.

Cool Finds

Snoop Inside Thoreau’s Journals at This New Exhibition

It’s your chance to get up-close and personal with the philosopher-poet’s possessions

According to Mary Sawyer's account, the lamb was a female. Sarah Hale's poem says it was a male. Sawyer is probably the source with reason to know.

‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ Is Based on a True Story

As a child, Mary Sawyer rescued a lamb. Then it followed her to school one day

Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge as Bill Murray Reads You Poetry This June

Langston Hughes by Edward Henry Weston, 1932

Why Langston Hughes Still Reigns as a Poet for the Unchampioned

Fifty years after his death, Hughes’ extraordinary lyricism resonates with power to people

The National Portrait Gallery commissioned a poem from the Pulitzer Prize winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa for the museum's new exhibition, "The Face of Battle."

A New Poem is Commissioned to Honor the Soldiers Who Fight America’s Wars

Pulitzer Prize winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa writes “After the Burn Pits” for the National Portrait Gallery

Paul Revere gets all the credit, but he had a little help from his friends.

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and Some Other Guys

The midnight ride wasn’t so much a solo operation as it was a relay

Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson Was Fiercer Than You Think

A new biopic shows the poet as more than a mysterious recluse

Marsh Ponds; Mavilette, Nova Scotia, 2014

Canada

A Photographer Captures Emptiness and Longing in Longfellow’s Nova Scotia

Photographer Mark Marchesi spent four years tracing images from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem, “Evangeline”

Bob Dylan by John Cohen, 1962

Poetry Matters

Is Bob Dylan a Poet?

As the enigmatic singer, songwriter and troubadour takes the Nobel Prize in literature, one scholar ponders what his work is all about

Langston Hughes powerfully speaks for those excluded.

Breaking Ground

What Langston Hughes’ Powerful Poem “I, Too” Tells Us About America’s Past and Present

Smithsonian historian David Ward reflects on the work of Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes' Harlem brownstone: Cultural remnant or great place for a Starbucks?

Trending Today

The Fight to Preserve Langston Hughes’ Harlem Home From Gentrification

A new kind of Harlem renaissance is threatening the home of one of America’s greatest poets

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Commentary

Should We Hate Poetry?

It was precisely because poetry wasn’t hated that Plato feared it, writes the Smithsonian’s senior historian David Ward, who loves poetry

Cool Finds

Anyone Can Contribute to This Giant Poem…if You Can Find This Typewriter

A roving typewriter tries to capture New York’s subconscious

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