Close Reads Live Poetry Hour on Auden's "Musee des Beaux Arts" (Updated with recording)

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, c. 1560, oil on canvas

Hey friends!

It’s time for another live Close Reads poetry hour, one of our subscriber benefits. We’ll be discussing W. H. Auden’s poem, “Musee des Beaux Arts” (and probably the Brueghel painting mentioned in the poem, and pictured above, as well). If you attended last month’s poetry hour, you’ll remember Sean mentioned how much he loves this poem—and, incidentally, I’m a huge fan of the painting—so it should be a great time digging into a poem that may not be as well known as others we’ve done but that nonetheless is written by a master of the form.

Speaking of masters, how can you not want to talk about a poem that begins with, “About suffering they were never wrong / The old Masters . . .”

Here’s the full poem.

The session will start at 9:00 pm eastern this evening and will go for one hour. Can’t join us live? Subscribers will have access to the video recording after the fact.

We’re looking forward to re-connecting with some of you tonight!

Update: Here’s the Zoom recording . . .