The 1st Annual Dead Poets Remembrance Day is a cooperative effort of the Dead Poets Society, along with 13 State Poets Laureate, that seeks to remember and honor our nation's past poets. Read more about the day at our website. Below is more about how the community is going to celebrate the Day in Boston, via the Great Boston Poetry Marathon of 2010.
On
October 7th a new national literary holiday, the Dead Poets
Remembrance Day, will be celebrated in locations nationwide. The holiday,
currently endorsed by 13 state poets laureate and other poets, is an occasion
when people will gather to remember and honor their state’s past poets by
reading their works.
In the Boston area, the Dead Poets Society of
America, in cooperation with various groups and institutions, is planning to
hold the Great Boston Poetry Marathon of 2010 on Monday, October 11th. Starting at sunrise, in Gloucester, and
ending at sunset, on Author’s Ridge, poets and poetry lovers will gather in six
main locations to read from the works of 45 of the great poets of
Massachusetts. These poets represent ever every historical era since colonial
days and their work represents almost every genre of poetry written since then.
Come
take part in an historic literary event
and celebrate Massachusetts’ past poets with your neighbors.
For
each of the 45 poets we will be honoring that day we are looking for readers to
take part in this community celebration. Each reader would read one
poem from their assigned poet, as well as give some brief historical background
on the poet. We especially hope to involve middle, high school, and college
students in the local readings. The largest event during the day will take
place, rain or shine, at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery, where we will gather to honor
22 of the poets who were buried there. In case of inclement weather, some of
the other locations may be cancelled, and a blog developed for that day will
keep people posted about any changes in the schedule.
Participants are welcome to join the day-long caravan, starting on the Gloucester waterfront, at 6:15, or they can participate at one or two of the reading locations nearest them. The outline below gives the names of the poets and the locations of the readings. If you wish to be a reader, please contact Walter Skold, at 207-449-8122, or by e-mail, bpm@deadpoes.org
Another
unique aspect about this historic first celebration of Dead Poets Remembrance
Day in Massachusetts is that the events will be filmed. The footage will be
used to develop an educational website, and eventually a documentary film.
Because of this, people who wish to be readers will be asked to sign a legal
release allowing their reading to potentially be aired in public. All events
will be free and open to the public, and final times will be posted online and
in newspapers in late September. Those who want to simply attend the events or
readers who do not wish to be on film will not be asked to sign a release.
The
1st nationwide Dead Poets Remembrance Day is keeping up traditions
that have been observed for years at many individual poets’ graves, and by
celebrating this day New Englanders will be joining in spirit with citizens
across the land to celebrate the lives and poetry of our nation’s past great
poets.
