Themes of Poetry: Last Looks

Helen Vendler Lectures on Poets: Stevens, Plath, Lowell, Bishop, and Merrill

From the A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts at The National Gallery of Art, Helen Vendler, A. Kingsley Porter University Professor, Harvard University.

In this lecture series, Vendler "considers the final works of five modern American poets… as they examine life and death 'in a single steady gaze.'"

 Last Looks, Last Books: The Binocular Poetry of Death

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: Wallace Stevens

Part 3: Sylvia Plath

Part 4: Robert Lowell

Part 5: Elizabeth Bishop

Part 6: James Merrill

Photo by Jan Claire