Colleagues, Students Remember Helen Vendler, a 'Titan' of Poetry Criticism

Professors Glenda Carpio, Stephanie Burt, Gordon Teskey, and former graduate student Christopher Spaide, PhD ’19, remember Helen Vendler in the following piece by The Harvard Gazette. An excerpt is included below: 

"When Helen Vendler taught William Blake’s “The Lamb,” she often ended class discussions by reading the poem aloud. Arms extended as if cradling a lamb, gaze directed upward, Vendler would embody the character of the worshipful child speaker. 

One time, graduate students recall, Vendler also offered the lamb’s response — an unexpected “baa,” to the uproarious delight of her students. A celebrated literary scholar with a sometimes-unexpected sense of humor, Vendler took every opportunity to bring poetry to life, making her courses unforgettable experiences, according to students and colleagues.

Vendler, one of the world’s foremost critics of English and American poetry, died April 23 in Laguna Niguel, California. She was 90." 

Read more here.