The New Yorker: Poetry Ellen Bass Reads Adam Zagajewski
7 snips
Dec 16, 2015 
Renowned poets Ellen Bass and Adam Zagajewski discuss themes of mutability, beauty in a shattered world, loss, and lustrousness in their selected poems. The discussion includes tarot decks, herbal remedies, oysters in poetry, and upcoming episodes on new Iliad translation and Adam Driver's performance.
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Praising Amid Devastation
- Ellen Bass sees Zagajewski's poem as a deliberate effort to praise despite devastation and moral difficulty.
- She connects the poem to Rilke's question about praising when faced with darkness.
Family Seder Reading Ritual
- Bass reads the poem every year at her family's Passover Seder and it becomes a quiet, shared ritual moment.
- She describes the Seder as joyful and raucous until the poem brings everyone into a suspended stillness.
Power Of Restraint In Imagery
- Bass admires Zagajewski's restraint: he states atrocity plainly and trusts the reader to fill in the weight.
- Minimal, simple lines like 'the executioners sing joyfully' carry chilling power without bludgeoning the reader.