Prisons and Poetry (Seminar)

Northeast Modern Language Association 2024 - Boston, MA (March 7-10)

“It is hard,” writes incarcerated poet Etheridge Knight, “to make a poem in prison.” And yet, poetry has long been a major form of literary production in prisons around the world. From Oscar Wilde to Mahmoud Darwish, celebrated poets have reflected on experiences of incarceration in their work. In the context of the U.S. mass incarceration, poets such as Jimmy Santiago Baca and Reginald Dwayne Betts have risen to fame during or after their imprisonment. Poetry has also been an important element of writings by many political prisoners, such as Wole Soyinka, Assata Shakur, and Leonard Peltier.