Harvard Poetry Walking Tour

After reaching the Weld Boathouse on the Charles River, hear physician, poet, and Harvard Medical School Associate Professor Rafael Campo read his poem “Song in the Off Season.”

Lowell House is home of the Lowell House bell tower, and where Robert Lowell once lived. The House itself is named after former Harvard President A. Lawrence Lowell, an ancestor of the poet. While living in the House, Lowell caused a scandal by dating an older woman named Anne Dick, of whom his parents disapproved; so much so, in fact, that they wrote Dick’s parents forbidding her from visiting their son’s dorm room “without proper chaperonage.” Hear Professor of English and poet Stephen Burt read Lowell’s poem about this incident.

Outside of Lamont Library, which houses the Woodberry Poetry Room, listen to Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature Elisa New read one of alumnus Frank O’Hara’s “Lunch Poems.”

At Widener Library, listen to Radcliffe Fellow Henri Cole reading his poem “Harvard Classics.”

Facing Tercentenary Theatre, where Commencement is held outdoors every year, listen to the late Seamus Heaney read “Villanelle for an Anniversary,” which he composed in honor of Harvard’s 350th anniversary.

At Memorial Church, hear poet Frannie Lindsay, graduate coordinator in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, read ee cummings’ “i am a little church(no great cathedral).”

In the Sever Hall courtyard, pick a tree, any tree, and listen to Adrienne Rich read her poem “The Trees,” which she recorded at the Woodberry Poetry Room on May 10, 1961.

Memorial Hall honors the sacrifices Harvard men made in defense of the Union during the American Civil War. Hear A. Kingsley Porter University Professor Helen Vendler give a brief explanation before reading Wallace Stevens’ poem “Puella Parvula.”

Annenberg Hall, located in the basement of Memorial Hall, serves as the dining facility for first-year students. Harvard University Dining Services serves approximately 3,400 meals here each day. Listen to T.S. Eliot’s “Morning at the Window,” which was recorded in Sanders Theatre on May 13, 1947, as a Morris Gray poetry reading.

In front of the Science Center rocks, hear Sylvia Plath recite “Child’s Park Stones,” which she recorded on June 13, 1958, at Harvard’s Woodberry Poetry Room.

You’re now at the John Harvard Statue. Here is Harvard junior Dylan Perese reading Harvard alumna Jane Yeh’s poem “Case Study: Cambridge, Massachusetts.”

Welcome to the Harvard Poetry Walking Tour! This tour will lead you through campus by foot and ear, pairing classic Harvard landmarks with just a sampling of poets connected to the University. To begin this tour, you should be standing in the Old Yard, which is home to most freshman dormitories. Now listen to Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard alumna Tracy K. Smith read her poem “The Universe as Primal Scream.”

Welcome to the Harvard Poetry Walking Tour! Use this map to navigate the stops. This tour will lead you through campus by foot and ear, pairing classic Harvard landmarks with just a sampling of poets connected to the University. To begin this tour, you should be standing in the Old Yard, which is home to most freshman dormitories.