Dr. Elise Ryan, scholar of early modern literature and faculty fellow at Beatrice Institute, joins us to discuss the poetry that comes out of experiences of trauma. She and Prof. McDermott take a close look at John Lydgate's "Dance of Death," Larry Levis's "Anastasia and Sandman," and Gerard Manley Hopkins's "Carrion Comfort."

Dr. Elise Ryan, scholar of early modern literature and faculty fellow at Beatrice Institute, joins us to discuss the poetry that comes out of experiences of trauma. She and Prof. McDermott take a close look at John Lydgate’s “Dance of Death,” Larry Levis’s “Anastasia and Sandman,” and Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “Carrion Comfort.” They discuss how poetry helps articulate experiences of grief, why poetry comes long after community trauma, and the link between poetry and prayer.

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Medieval poetry and the Black Death
The cultural impact of despair and grief
Ring around the rosie
Belated responses to crisis
Articulating experiences of trauma
Repetition in lieu of coherent narrative
Memory and trauma
The power found in witnessing
The link between poetry and prayer
Poetry as a lifesaver rather than escapism.

Links:
“Dance of Death” by John Lydgate
“Anastasia and Sandman” by Larry Levis
“Carrion Comfort” by Gerard Manley Hopkins

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