U.S. poet laureates set to speak at IU

Two former U.S. poets laureates Robert Pinsky and W. S. Merwin will come to campus as part of a series sponsored by the College Arts and Humanities Institute and the Institute for Advanced Study.\nPinsky and Merwin will each give a reading and presentation on the topic of "Solitude," beginning with Pinksy's presentation at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 26 in the Whittenberger Auditorium.\nTemple Grandin , a noted animal behavior scientist and author who is autistic, will also give a presentation as part of the series. All presentations are free and open to the public.\nAndrea Ciccarelli , director of the CAHI, and Alfred Aman, IU law professor and director of the Institute for Advanced Study, chose "Solitude" as a theme for the series because of its wide range of meaning.\n"We knew we wanted to have a common thread running through the speakers," Aman said. "People define solitude differently, from loneliness to privacy. We wanted to explore that."\nBoth Aman and Ciccarelli were keen on making poets part of the series because of their "unique insight into the idea and state of solitude," Aman said.\n"Poets in part have a way of going deeper, shutting off the background noise and seeing what the essence of solitude can mean," he said.\nMatt Colglazier, a third-year master of fine arts student in the creative writing department, stresses that writing poetry is a uniquely solitary act.\n"The majority of poetry is written in solitude. It's not a cooperative art form like making a movie," said Colglazier. "A poet might, by virtue of writing itself, be brought closer to the subject and have something meaningful to say."\nColglazier said he thinks poetry readings are important because hearing a poet read his or her own work can improve the listener's understanding of a piece of poetry.\n"I guess for me, poetry is one of those subjects that is also pleasurable when you hear it out loud. Robert Pinksy talks of this, in terms of a poem not being complete until you hear someone read it," he said.\nAlong with the readings and presentations, the speakers will host two small seminars, each with about 20 undergraduate and graduate students. Faculty members will decide who gets to participate in these workshops, Ciccarelli said.\nCiccarelli and Aman said they hope to continue with the theme of solitude next year.\n"The topic has many very deep angles that we would like to keep exploring," Aman said. "If we use it for a couple of years, it may gain momentum and develop a bit of a following. And then we'll come up with a new topic." For more information on the series,\nvisit www.indiana.edu/~cahi .