The Iambic Animal: Animals in the Poetic Imagination

In his book "The Animal Part: Human and Other Animals in the Poetic Imagination," University of Chicago classics professor Mark Payne reads ancient masters and modern counterparts in search of what poetry tells us about our place in the animal kingdom. Tracing the poetic imagination from Aristophanes and Ovid to Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams, Payne explores how verse has been used to communicate the experience of animal suffering, make analogies between human and animal societies, and imagine the human condition from an animal perspective.

This program is presented as part of the annual Karla Scherer Endowed Lecture Series for the University of Chicago.