GBH Openvault
Poetry from M.I.T.; Robert Graves
Part of From the Vault. Part of Nine Poets Walk Into An Institute of Technology.
05/14/1963
In this recording, Robert Graves delivers the Twelfth Arthur Dehon Little Memorial Lecture, an address titled "Nine Hundred Iron Chariots." Established nearly two decades earlier in order to "promote interest in and stimulate discussion of the social implications inherent in the development of science," earlier Little Lectures had been delivered by luminaries such as Detlev W. Bronk, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Leo Szilard. Graves, was the first literary figure to assume the role, and was given a lengthy introduction for the occasion by MIT President Julius Adams Stratton. Warning the audience that the first part of his lecture "is pretty alright" but that it gets a bit wild toward the end, Graves's lecture explores the relationship between poets and scientists, whom, in his estimation, "evidently stand at the opposite extremes of contemporary thought," with the former focusing on "internal truth," and the latter on "external fact." Praising MIT for its emphasis on the humanities, but questioning the institution's relative indifference toward the contributions of women, his lecture culminates by alluding to a story from the Book of Judges concerning the triumph of Barak and Deborah over Sisera, and he concludes by asking the assembled hall to forgive me if I have offended. I am only a poet. Summary and select metadata for this record was submitted by Jim Cocola.
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- Series
- Poetry from M.I.T.
- Program
- Robert Graves
- Series Description
Radio series. Series release date: 1963
- Program Description
Radio
- Duration
01:09:36
- Asset Type
Broadcast program
- Media Type
Audio
- Subjects
- Artistic Influences
- Poetry readings (Sound recordings)
- Nine Hundred Iron Chariots
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Poetry
- Art and Science
- Arthur Dehon Little Memorial Lecture
- Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Graves, Robert, 1895-1985
- Locations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Genres
- Performance for a Live Audience
- Event Coverage
- Topics
- Literature
- Contributors
- Graves, Robert, 1895-1985 (Speaker)
- Publication Information
- Copyright © 1963 by The Trustees of the Robert Graves Copyright Trust
- Citation
- Chicago: “Poetry from M.I.T.; Robert Graves,” 05/14/1963, GBH Archives, accessed April 20, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/A_E2043B1A0FD144ED8E01795240C97CC2.
- MLA: “Poetry from M.I.T.; Robert Graves.” 05/14/1963. GBH Archives. Web. April 20, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/A_E2043B1A0FD144ED8E01795240C97CC2>.
- APA: Poetry from M.I.T.; Robert Graves. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/A_E2043B1A0FD144ED8E01795240C97CC2