Harvard professor Stephen Burt speaks, studies at ECU

Harvard professor Stephen Burt speaks to a crowd gathered at ECU's Joyner Library during a visit to campus Feb. 7.

Harvard professor and poet-critic Stephen Burt read from his poetry and spoke about the relationship between writing poetry and criticism during a visit to East Carolina University Feb. 7.

Burt spoke at Joyner Library, where he also investigated the library’s collection of books and papers related to poet-critic Randall Jarrell.

Burt’s second book, “Randall Jarrell and His Age,” focused on the poet-critic who settled in North Carolina. Some of Jarrell’s books and papers are part of the Stuart Wright Collection in the Joyner Library.

Burt said the Jarrell collection would be valuable in his research and he might return for additional time studying the material.

A recent interview with Burt by ECU English professor John Hoppenthaler, along with several of Burt’s poems, is available at http://connotationpress.com/a-poetry-congeries-with-john-hoppenthaler/1027-stephen-burt-poetry.

While at ECU, Stephen Burt enjoyed studying Joyner Library's collection of papers from poet-critic Randall Jarrell, the subject of Burt's research.