Poem

From the Poems “Fray”

Slate readers discuss poems with Robert Pinsky—and with one another.

Every few weeks, Slate Poetry Editor Robert Pinsky offers a fresh take on a classic poem and joins “the Fray” to discuss the work with readers. Click here for instructions on how to access archived discussions. Below, browse these poems and the conversations they sparked:

January 2010: “Elegy,” by Chidiock Tichborne and “When I Was Fair and Young,” by Queen Elizabeth I. Follow the discussion.

December 2010: Poems of divine intimacy. Follow the discussion.

November 2010: “The Lie,” by Sir Walter Raleigh. Follow the discussion.

October 2010: Nonrhyming poems. Follow the discussion.

September 2010: “The Chimney Sweeper,” by William Blake. Follow the discussion.

August 2010: “The Badger” and “I Am,” by John Clare. Follow the discussion.

July 2010: Poems for children. Follow the discussion.

June 2010: “My Childhood-Home I See Again,” by Abraham Lincoln. Follow the discussion.

May 2010: “Upon Nothing,” by John Wilmot. Follow the discussion.

April 2010: “Mowing” and “Pan With Us,” by Robert Frost. Follow the discussion.

March 2010: “The Cruel Mother,” Anonymous English folk ballad. Follow the discussion.

February 2010: Valentine’s Day poetry anthology. Follow the discussion.

January 2010: “When the Author Was Painting the Vault of the Sistine Chapel,” by Michelangelo. Follow the “Fray” discussion.

December 2009: “A Christmas Carol, Sung to the King in the Presence at White-Hall,” by Robert Herrick. Follow the “Fray” discussion.

December 2009: “An Ode to Himself,” by Ben Johnson and “Upon M. Ben Jonson, Epig.,” by Robert Herrick. Follow the “Fray” discussion.  

November 2009: “Adam’s Curse,” by John Yeats. Follow the “Fray” discussion.

October 2009: “Jubilate Agno,” by Christopher Small. Follow the “Fray” discussion.

September 2009: “Church Monuments,” by George Herbert. Follow the “Fray” discussion.

August 2009: “Epistle to Miss Blount, on Her Leaving the Town, After the Coronation,” by Alexander Pope. Follow the “Fray” discussion.

June 2009: “Poetry,” by Marianne Moore. Follow the “Fray” discussion.

May 2009: “On the Cards and Dice” and ” Sir Walter Raleigh to His Son,” by Sir Walter Raleigh. Follow the “Fray” discussion.

April 2009: “The Owl” and “Carrion Comfort,” by Edward Thomas and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Follow the “Fray” discussion.

March 2009: “All My Senses, Like Beacon’s Flame,” by Fulke Greville. Follow the “Fray” discussion.

January 2009: “I tie my Hat—I crease my Shawl,” by Emily Dickinson. Follow the “Fray” discussion.

December 2008: “The Darkling Thrush,” by Thomas Hardy. Follow the “Fray” discussion, or read Slate’s “Fraywatch” summary.

November 2008: “There Was a Man of Double Deed” (anonymous). Follow the “Fray” discussion, or read Slate’s “Fraywatch” summary.

October 2008: “On Love, On Grief,” by Walter Savage Landor. Follow the “Fray” discussion.

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