BRATTLEBORO — Vermont State Poet Laureate Sydney Lea will look at the lives and work of poets Robert Frost and William Wordsworth in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro on May 1.
His talk, “Frost and Wordsworth: Romantic Poetry in the Light of Common Day,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays lecture series and takes place at 7 p.m.
The poetry of Robert Frost (1874-1963) and William Wordsworth (1770-1850) depends heavily on the natural world and what Wordsworth said was the “language really used by men.” Lea will explore the poets' similarities, differences, and influence on other poets.
Lea's most recent collection of poems is “Six Sundays Toward a Seventh: Selected Spiritual Poems” (2012). He has taught at Dartmouth College, Yale University, Wesleyan University, and Middlebury College.
He founded the New England Review in 1977 and edited it until 1989, and has appeared widely in top periodicals including Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. He lives in Newbury.
This is the final lecture of this season's First Wednesdays series, held on the first Wednesday of every month from October through May, featuring speakers of national and regional renown. All First Wednesdays talks are free and open to the public.