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The Sunday Forum, April 6, 2008 Why Words Matter: Poetry and Faith |
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Sunday Forums
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Sunday, April 6, 2008, 10–10:50 am Why Words Matter: Poetry and Faith with poet and NEA chair Dana Gioia
“I think that what took Washington by surprise was that we were actually naïve, honest, and dedicated idealists,” he recalls. “They had no defense against that.” The agency’s Shakespeare program has brought 1.3 million children to see a play by Shakespeare. “I think that’s the Lord’s work,” Gioia says.
“I became a poet by accident,” Gioia says. When he was a child, his mother entranced him by reciting “Annabelle Lee” and other poems. Gioia expected to work as a musician but discovered, at age twenty, that he had greater talent as poet. Graduate school at Harvard did not, contrary to expectations, teach him how to write but instead taught him the narrow, arcane language of literary theory. After working at several “lousy” jobs, Gioia took a job in marketing at General Foods and promised himself that he would continue to write poetry and read literature. In 1991 Gioia published an essay, “Can Poetry Matter,” which provoked wide discussion about the role of the art form. He wants poetry to be “accessible,” but he stipulates that T. S. Eliot’s work is accessible; the problem he sees with accessibility is that poetry has retreated to the rarefied world of a few scholars. Gioia finds that the “major defect” of much contemporary poetry is that “it’s narcissistic.” While calling for accessibility, he does not want any art form to be “dumbed down.” 
About the GuestDana Gioia is a poet, critic, and chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C. A winner of the American Book Award, Gioia is internationally recognized for his role in reviving rhyme, meter, and narrative in contemporary poetry and, as a critic, for introducing poetry to a broader audience. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and on the radio. His influential 1991 essay “Can Poetry Matter” launched an international discussion about the role of the arts in public life.
(also listed in Cathedral worship service leaflets) For more information, please contact Deryl Davis at (202) 537-6382 or e-mail ddavis@cathedral.org. |
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Dean Lloyd invites Dana Gioia into an intriguing discussion about
“Why Words Matter: Poetry and Faith.” Gioia is credited with saving the
National Endowment for the Arts at a time when it was severely embattled
and nearly extinguished by Congress. He sought to create an institution
that would bring art to all Americans while being true both to art and
to democracy. The efforts succeeded.
Describing himself as having been “a working-class Catholic kid from
L.A.,” Gioia credits art with opening up the world for him. He
emphasizes the importance of bringing the arts to all children, to
expand life’s possibilities. “I worry that we live in a country in which
the arts and arts education have become a function of your parents’
income,” he says. “If you’re poor, you have no access to this. And I
think that’s unworthy of a democracy.”