10-Minute Talks: Poetry as Experience

In this talk, Professor Derek Attridge FBA addresses the question: "What is a poem's mode of existence?" Using a poem by William Wordsworth as an example, he argues that poems are not fixed lines of words but human experiences of language and the power of language.

He is the author of The Experience of Poetry. From Homer's Listeners to Shakespeare's Readers.

Lead image: Engraving From 1873, featuring William Wordsworth. © traveler1116 via Getty Images