Sunday

Jun. 3, 2001

Church Going

by Philip Larkin

SUNDAY, 3 JUNE 2001
Listen (RealAudio) | How to listen

Poem: "Church Going," by Philip Larkin from The Less Deceived (The Marwell Press).

On this day in 1989, a group of protesters demonstrating in Tianenmen Square in Beijing, demonstrating in favor of democratic reforms, were set upon by Chinese soldiers and between 400 hundred and 800 civilians were left dead.

It's the birthday of novelist Larry McMurtry, born in Witchita Falls, Texas, in 1936, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Lonesome Dove in 1986.

It's the birthday of the poet Allen Ginsberg, born in Newark, New Jersey in 1926. He's best-known for his long poem, "Howl," published when he was 30 years old.

And it's the birthday of the British journalist William Hone, born in Bath, England, in 1780. He was famous for the first exposés of the conditions of insane asylums in Great Britain, and for his battles to win freedom of speech. In 1819, he came out with a political satire, The Political House That Jack Built, with lines such as These are the people all tatter'd and torn,/Who curse the day wherein they were born,/On account of Taxation too great to be borne. He was charged with sedition for writing the stuff, and in a landmark case centering on freedom of speech, won his own acquittal, which made him a hero for writers across England. When he died in London in 1842, young Charles Dickens attended his funeral and helped to pay for his widow's living expenses.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

«

»

  • “Writers end up writing stories—or rather, stories' shadows—and they're grateful if they can, but it is not enough. Nothing the writer can do is ever enough” —Joy Williams
  • “I want to live other lives. I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get. Writing is my way of making other chances.” —Anne Tyler
  • “Writing is a performance, like singing an aria or dancing a jig” —Stephen Greenblatt
  • “All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • “Good writing is always about things that are important to you, things that are scary to you, things that eat you up.” —John Edgar Wideman
  • “In certain ways writing is a form of prayer.” —Denise Levertov
  • “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” —E.L. Doctorow
  • “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” —E.L. Doctorow
  • “Let's face it, writing is hell.” —William Styron
  • “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” —Thomas Mann
  • “Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.” —Paul Rudnick
  • “Writing is a failure. Writing is not only useless, it's spoiled paper.” —Padget Powell
  • “Writing is very hard work and knowing what you're doing the whole time.” —Shelby Foote
  • “I think all writing is a disease. You can't stop it.” —William Carlos Williams
  • “Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck.” —Iris Murdoch
  • “The less conscious one is of being ‘a writer,’ the better the writing.” —Pico Iyer
  • “Writing is…that oddest of anomalies: an intimate letter to a stranger.” —Pico Iyer
  • “Writing is my dharma.” —Raja Rao
  • “Writing is a combination of intangible creative fantasy and appallingly hard work.” —Anthony Powell
  • “I think writing is, by definition, an optimistic act.” —Michael Cunningham
Current Faves - Learn more about poets featured frequently on the show