Poets of the Forties, Part 1 — Robert Duncan, Robert Horan, Rosalie Moore, James Broughton, Madeline Gleason: May 15, 1974

The Poetry Center presents an historic re-creation of the "Festival of Modern Poetry," originally organized by Madeline Gleason's San Francisco Poetry Guild in 1947. This 1974 reading features nine of the original participants of the 1947 festival, a partial representation of poets then active in the San Francisco Bay Area who helped establish San Francisco as a center for poetry, before the Beat movement and San Francisco Renaissance defined other new directions in the 1950s. The nine poets read largely from works written during the 1940s. Robert Duncan serves as emcee and reads briefly at the opening.

For convenience, the full program has been split into two parts. On this first half of the program appear Robert Duncan (1919–1988), Robert Horan (1922–1981), Rosalie Moore (1910–2001), James Broughton (1913–1999), and Madeline Gleason (1903–1979). 

Publisher
American Poetry Archives
Location
San Francisco Museum of Art
Date
1974-05-15
Event Run Time
00:51:50
Rights

©© American Poetry Archives. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. For all other uses please email poetry@sfsu.edu.

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Robert Duncan (00:07:33)

Robert Duncan introduces the evening and its poets, then reads briefly from his own poetry three poems: "Homage to the Brothers Grimm," "Strawberries Under the Snow" and "The Dinner Table of Harlequin."

Robert Horan (00:10:31)

Robert Horan, who won the Yale Younger Poets award in 1948 for A Beginning, was a representative of the Activist poets. He reads "Little City," "Jumping Midnight Salmon," the sonnet "Dreamed in a midnight...," and "A Sunday Poem."

Rosalie Moore (00:06:50)

Rosalie Moore, another founder of the Activist group, won the Yale Younger Poets award in 1949 for her book The Grasshopper's Man & Other Poems. She reads "The Fog Crossing," "Imprecation for an Aesthetic Society," "Shipwreck," "The Mind's Disguise as Permanence," and "A Sunday Poem." 

James Broughton (00:16:09)

James Broughton, equally known as avant-garde filmmaker, reads a scattering of poems from his early books The Playground, The Ballad of Mad Jenny, Musical Chairs, and Songs for Certain Children. 

Madeline Gleason (00:07:51)

Madeline Gleason, founder of the San Francisco Poetry Guild, poet, painter, and playwright, reads from her early book The Metaphysical Needle: "Do I Have Charity? Is It Mine? Nein.," "Lilys on the Lake," "Not chance but pain determines what we do....," "The Interior Castle," "Is This the Wing That Could Never Tire?" and "O That Fine Morning on Mt. Tamalpais."

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