Enriqueta Cano reads Sonnet XVII, by Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda

Jessica Cotzin reads The Lost Pilot, by James Tate

Jessica Cotzin

Emilio Aponte-Sierra reads Traveler, There Is No Road, by Antonio Machado

Antonio Machado

John Ashbery: Demure on importance of his poetry

American poet John Ashbery talks to TIME about fame, poverty, art criticism and why he hates the sound of his own voice.

John Ashbery: Love for French writers and culture

The Poet's View offers unprecedented access into the life and work of some of America's finest poets. These films are warmly insightful portraits recorded in the personal setting of each poet's home and at various locations.

The series was produced by the Academy of American Poets with generous assistance from the Wallace Stevens Fund. The director/producer was Mel Stuart, whose credits include the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and many critically acclaimed documentaries. 

The full series is available on DVD, and includes portraits of John Ashberry, Louise Gluck, Anthony Hecht, Kay Ryan, and W. S. Merwin.

John Ashbery: Hear and read it, to know his poetry

John Ashbery was born in 1927 in Rochester, New York, and grew up on a farm near Lake Ontario. He has authored more than thirty books of poetry, fiction, drama, and criticism, his work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages, and he has won numerous American literary awards for his poetry, including a MacArthur Fellowship, two Guggenheim Fellowships, and a National Humanities Medal. His book Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (1975) won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the National Book Award. For many years, Ashbery taught graduate and undergraduate poetry courses at Brooklyn College and Bard College, and his most recent book of poems is Quick Question, published in 2012.

Radio Panel on Yeats and Politics