National Poetry Month

In the second season of Poetry in America, guests join Elisa New to discuss the poems of Marilyn Chin, Elizabeth Bishop, Marianne Moore, Mark Doty, Yusef Komunyakaa, Stephen Sondheim, William Carlos Williams, and Walt Whitman

The Poetry Lounge: Self-Expression Through The Spoken Word is a free, multicultural open-forum for self-expression, inspiring young people to find their own voice and let it be heard. Hosted by award-winning Def Poets Shihan and Poetri, the "Lounge" has become the largest weekly open mic forum in the country, and was one of the inspirations for Russell Simmons' 2003 Tony-winning show, Def Poetry Jam. Taken from a recent Poetry Lounge event, this program features 2004 National Slam Champions, performing their work and sharing their inspiration. Learn the fundamentals of writing and performing "spoken word" poetry from some of the most accomplished poets of the movement.

Breaking a vow of silence, Ezra Pound reads his Canto I of 1917 to friends at lunch during the Gian-Carlo Menotti’s Spoleto Festival in 1967.

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1963. One of the 20th century's finest poets, Robert Frost, was nearing the end of his life when WGBH asked Shirley Clarke to film a documentary about him. The two rebels got along famously – other had grown up in cities but had a love for nature. Frost's poems were often direct and economic depictions of rural life cloaked in the colloquialisms of his beloved New England. Using intricately woven poetic forms, his poetry straddled the line between tradition and modernism. Frost's work earned him international recognition and four Pulitzer Prizes.

Poet Emily Dickinson, pigeonholed as the strange recluse since her death, takes you on a journey through the seasons of her life amid 1800s New England. Narrated by Cynthia Nixon and featuring behind-the-scenes clips from the biopic A Quiet Passion.