Poetry

Edgar Allen Poe ~ Born in Boston ~ Lowell Connection

 Edgar Allen Poe  Lowell, Massachusetts, late May to early June 1849 Daguerreotype On this day – January 19, 1809 –  American short-story writer, poet, critic and editor Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe poularized the short-story and his tales of mystery and horror gave birth to the modern detective story. Among…

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Remembering “Auld Lang Syne”

A New Year’s Eve tradition was popularized on this day – December 31, 1929 – when band leader, Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played “Auld Lang Syne” at the stroke of midnight in the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.  “Auld Lang Syne” is a poem written by Scotsman…

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New Poetry by Joe Donahue

Under the title “Dissolves,” the new sections of Joe Donahue’s long poem “Terra Lucida,” are due in January from the publisher Talisman House in New Jersey. Joe is on long-term leave from Lowell, based at Duke University, where he researches eternal questions. The reading public rarely catches up to a visionary poet in…

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Massachusetts Once Banned Having a “Merry Christmas”

MassMoments reminds us today that the Puritans of Massachusetts led by minister Increase Mather thought the celebration of Christmas a vulgar, pagan-like and “profane and superstitious custom.”  Over those early years the custom was never totally stamped-out. In the early 19th century when the revelry – especially drinking and merry-making …

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