About this episode
The episode features a conversation with writer and poet Don Williams, exploring his life, works, and love for poetry and music.
Don Williams—Donald Mace Williams—is a writer. A poet, a novelist, a journalist, a translator, and so on. A real man of letters. He has been steeped in poetry all of his life. When he and his family were living in tents during the Depression, he had Mark Van Doren’s Anthology of World Poetry at his side. That amounts to an education, in one volume. But Williams went on to have a lot more education, in the classroom and beyond. He was born in Texas on “Black Thursday”—October 24, 1929, when the stock market crashed. He has titled one of his novels “ Black Tuesday’s Child .” (Note the switch of days. “Black Tuesday,” in 1929, was five days after the 24th.) Another novel is The Sparrow and the Hall , set in medieval England. Speaking of old England—very, very old England—Williams is a translator of Beowulf : here . Further dipping into Williams, here is a volume of poetry (his own). Here are poems of Rilke, which he has translated. Don has had a productive life. One of his first loves was music, a love that of course endures. He studied singing, and his brother became a pianist. And what goes with songs but poetry? Poetry in a great range of languages. Robert Frost is a poet who has…
People in this episode
Host: Jay Nordlinger
Guest: Don Williams
Topics covered
- literature
- poetry
- translation
- music
- education
Keywords
- Don Williams
- poetry
- literature
- translation
- music
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Black Tuesday’s Child, The Sparrow and the Hall, Beowulf, poetry
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