TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Rumi: One of the world's most famous writers | Stephanie Honchell Smith
According to legend, the renowned scholar Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi was giving a lecture when a disheveled man approached and asked him the meaning of his academic books. Rumi didn’t know it yet, but this question and this man would...
SciShow
Why Do We Rhyme?
Rhymes might seem frivolous, but there's scientific evidence for why we like them so much.
TED Talks
TED: How to design a school for the future | Punya Mishra
In all the conversations about improving education for children, the voices of students, teachers and community members are often left out. Educational designer Punya Mishra offers a method to shift that paradigm, taking us through new...
PBS
Poet writes slam-dunking kids' novel
How do you get reluctant readers to fall in love with a book? Writer and literacy activist Kwame Alexander says you have to offer them something relatable. In "The Crossover," basketball is the hook to persuade kids to pick up a novel...
PBS
Kevin Young intertwines personal and public history
As a writer, editor and archivist, Kevin Young is a poet actively engaged with the world. In his new collection, Brown, Young draws heavily on his boyhood in Topeka, Kansas, tying it in large and small ways to the wider world. Jeffrey...
PBS
Finding Emily Dickinson in the power of her poetry
Who was Emily Dickinson? A new exhibition at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York takes a closer look at the iconic American cultural figure through her poems and the remnants of her life, and finds a less reclusive woman than we...
PBS
In every vital moment, poetry is alive and well
Is poetry dead, too slow for our wired, sound-bitten world? Even if poetry is no more, says David Gewanter, then it still leaves its DNA lying around, or moves like a virus passing from body to body, playing witness to our most vital...
PBS
Summer Reading Lists For Young People At A Time Of Crisis
Amid dual national crises of a pandemic and outrage over racism and police brutality, books provide opportunities both to learn more and to find distraction from reality. Jeffrey Brown talks to writer Jason Reynolds, the Library of...
PBS
Poet Tess Taylor On How Verse Can Provide Solace
For many, it's a time of uncertainty and isolation. But in poet Tess and culture series, "CANVAS.""
Taylor's humble opinion, turning to verse can provide solace. Her recent
book of poems is Rift Zone," and the following essay is part of...
PBS
Spoken Word Club
Through verse, members of the Spoken Word Club at the Santa Fe Indian School articulate identities both modern and traditional, and maintain links to the past through native language and culture.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read Sylvia Plath? - Iseult Gillespie
Explore the haunting and intimate works of poet Sylvia Plath, who digs into issues of mental health, trauma and sexuality in works like “The Bell Jar.” -- Under her shrewd eye and pen, Sylvia Plath turned everyday objects into haunting...
TED Talks
Stephen Burt: Why people need poetry
"We're all going to die -- and poems can help us live with that." In a charming and funny talk, literary critic Stephen Burt takes us on a lyrical journey with some of his favorite poets, all the way down to a line break and back up to...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How Phillis Wheatley captured the attention of the world | Charita Gainey
In 1775, General George Washington received a poem from one of colonial America's most famous writers. Its verses praised the burgeoning revolution, invoking the goddess of their new nation to aid the general's cause. But this ode to...
Crash Course
Straight Outta Stratford-Upon-Avon - Shakespeare's Early Days: Crash Course Theater #14
This is the story of how a young Englishman named William Shakespeare stormed London's theater scene in the late 16th century, and wrote a bunch of plays and poems that have had pretty good staying power. We'll learn about Shakespeare's...
TED Talks
TED: Everyday moments, caught in time | Billy Collins
Combining dry wit with artistic depth, Billy Collins shares a project in which several of his poems were turned into delightful animated films in a collaboration with Sundance Channel. Five of them are included in this wonderfully...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: For Estefani, Third Grade, Who Made Me A Card | Aracelis Girmay
This animation is part of the TED-Ed series, "There's a Poem for That," which features animated interpretations of poems both old and new that give language to some of life's biggest feelings. [Poem by Aracelis Girmay, directed by Jordan...
TED Talks
Natalie Merchant: Singing old poems to life
Natalie Merchant sings from her poetry-inspired album "Leave Your Sleep," which pairs lyrics from poets -- from Gerard Manley Hopkins to a near-forgotten 10-year-old girl in Brooklyn -- with simple melodies and her unmistakable voice....
Crash Course
The Poetry of Sylvia Plath: Crash Course Literature 216
In which John Green teaches you about the poetry of Sylvia Plath. When a lot of people think about Sylvia Plath, they think about her struggles with mental illness and her eventual suicide. Her actual work can get lost in the shuffle a...
Crash Course
Before I Got My Eye Put Out - The Poetry of Emily Dickinson: Crash Course English Lit
In which John Green concludes the Crash Course Literature mini-series with an examination of the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Sure, John explores the creepy biographical details of Dickinson's life, but he also gets into why her poems have...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Brendan Constantine: "The Opposites Game"
This animation is part of the TED-Ed series, "There's a Poem for That," which features animated interpretations of poems both old and new that give language to some of life's biggest feelings. [Poem by Brendan Constantine, directed by...
TED Talks
TED: Give yourself permission to be creative | Ethan Hawke
Reflecting on moments that shaped his life, actor Ethan Hawke examines how courageous expression promotes healing and connection with one another -- and invites you to discover your own unabashed creativity. "There is no path till you...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: What makes a poem a poem? - Melissa Kovacs
What exactly makes a poem - a poem? Poets themselves have struggled with this question, often using metaphors to approximate a definition. Is a poem a little machine? A firework? An echo? A dream? Melissa Kovacs shares three recognizable...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Romance and revolution: the poetry of Pablo Neruda - Ilan Stavans
Get to know Pablo Neruda, one of the most celebrated poets of the 20th century and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. -- A romantic and a revolutionary, Pablo Neruda was one of the most celebrated poets of the 20th century, but...