Alan W. Powers
Educated at Amherst College and the University of Minnesota, plus post-docs at Princeton, Brown, Harvard, Cornell, the Folger Library, Breadloaf, Villa Vergilliana (Cuma, Italy) and the American Academy, Rome. Taught and published on 17C English and Comparative Literature and History, especially Shakespeare and Giordano Bruno. Wrote two books of verse. Appeared in two poetry films, Keats and his Nightingale, and A Loaded Gun. Composed several song settings to Yeats and Dylan Thomas, and jazz heads largely based on birds like Wood Thrush, Oriole, and the European Blackbird. See Google profile for NYT publications and www.zoomusicology.com. Mentors include Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Leonard Unger, Jean D'Amato Thomas, Thomas M Greene, Annabel Patterson, Marjorie Garber, Sander Gilman, Tony Molho, LL Lipking, G. Armour Craig, Richard Cody and Theodore Baird.
“from "After the Fall"When Kennedy dropped from the skyTo honor the poet Frost, ... So MacLeish spoke.."NotTo mention Robert Frost. For Frost,Of course, is another matter, as heAlways was, spoke to the throng an the oneHatless in October, but days beforeDallas and November.”
“Heifers, younger, are another matter,Goofy, quick to spook, gangly. TheyGalumpf about, attack afraid andRetreat feeling real brave. There's noUnderstanding 'em, that's justThe way they are. --Ars Docentis”
“I practice Dying--every night-- But have not learned to, still--Though Talented--by Mortal bones-- For such a common Skill.”
“Good teachers get fired; great teachers, killed--Socrates, Christ, and Giordano Bruno.”