Birds and Words: Writing about the Natural World

Poetry about Nature has been written for centuries–think, for instance, about the bucolic and pastoral poetry of the ancient Greeks and the Romans, or the Romantic obsession with Nature evidenced in the poetry of Wordsworth, Keats, and Shelley. Nature has a broad appeal to us because of its beauty and power, and it provides ample metaphors for any condition we might care to address in our poems. We are lucky enough to have plenty of it here in Maine, and we’ll gather at Maine Audubon’s beautiful Gilsland Farm to observe and to discuss ways of framing our thoughts about it. We will start by reading and discussing some fine examples of nature poetry by masters such as Sylvia Plath, Richard Wilbur, Mary Oliver, our own E.A. Robinson, Les Murray, and Emily Dickinson. We will have time to begin a draft of a poem, and we’ll share and generously critique each others’ work. Bring your own ideas about good nature writing and perhaps some of your favorite poems that focus on the natural world.

Register on the MWPA website: https://www.mainewriters.org/calendar/birds-and-words