Houston Classical Poetry Club


a Non-Profit Organization
  • Contact Information Houston Classical Poetry Club

  • LOCATION of meetings (currently):
    Black Lab Restaurant
    4100 Montrose
    Houston, Texas 77006
    (Key Map #493S)
  • WHEN:We meet the third Thursday of each month at 6:30pm at the Black Lab, unless otherwise indicated.
  • CONTACT: Wendy Wilkinson wendy@wdengineering.com
  • PARKING: Street parking and garage parking are available. There is a charge for garage parking only if you leave prior to 7pm. Since our discussion lasts longer than that, you won't be asked to pay.
    Bottom line: You will be required to collect a ticket at 6pm but you won't need to pay when you leave (because the attendant leaves at 6pm or 7pm).

    Discussions 2009

  • Monday, Jan. 19, 6-8pm FAERIE QUEEN,Book One

  • Monday, April 6, 6-8pm John Donne's Poetry
    Freed-Montrose Library, Upstairs conference room

  • Monday, May 25, 6-8pm DOCTOR FAUSTUS by Christopher Marlowe
    Freed-Montrose Library, Upstairs conference room

  • Thursday, July 30, 6:30pm TAMBURLAINE by Christopher Marlowe
    at the Black Lab restaurant (adjacent to the Freed-Monrose library)

    You can find all of these poems below, even the longer ones, online. When we are reading a selection of poems and you have a favorite poem by that particular poet that is not on the list, bring it along with a handful of copies.

  • Thursday, August 27, Shakespeare
    • Sonnet 18—Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
    • 66—Tired with all these, for restful death I cry
    • 116—Let me not to the marriage of true minds
    • 129—Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame
    • 146—Poor soul, the center of my sinful earth

  • Thursday, September 17, Sir Philip Sydney
    • Sonnet 31—With how sad steps, Oh Moon, thou climb'st the skies
    • 39—Come sleep, Oh sleep, the certain knot of peace
    • Fourth Song: Only joy, now here you are
    • Ring Out Your Bells
    • The Nightingale

  • Thursday, October 15, Sir Philip Sydney
    • In the Defense of Poesy

  • Thursday, November 19, Sir George Gascoigne
    • Gascoigne's Woodmanship
    • Gascoigne's Lullaby

  • Thursday, December 17, Sir Walter Raleigh
    • The Lie
    • What Is Our life?
    • Even Such Is Time

  • Thursday, January 21, Thomas Campion
    • When Thou Must Home
    • There is a Garden in Her Face
    • Now Winter Nights Enlarge
    • Shall I Come, Sweet Love, to Thee

  • Thursday, February 18, Ben Jonson
    • An Elegy: Though beauty to the mark of praise
    • An Ode to Himself: Where dost thou careless lie
    • Come, my Ceclia
    • To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author Mr. William Shakespeare: To draw no envy, Shakespeare, on thy name
    • Queen and Huntress

  • Thursday, March 18, Female Poets of the Renaissance
    • Queen Elizabeth—On Monsieur's Departure
    • Anne Askew—The Ballad Which Anne Askew Made and Sang When She Was in Newgate
    • Lady Mary Wroth—When night's blacke Mantle could most darknesse prove & Love What Art Thou?

  • Thursday, April 22, John Milton
    (date changed from usual 3rd Thursday in April to 4th Thursday)
    • Paradise Lost Book 1 through Book 4

  • Thursday, May 20, John Milton
    • Paradise Lost Book 5 through Book 8

  • Thursday, June 17, John Milton
    • Paradise Lost Book 9 through Book 12


    Discussions prior years

    2007

  • Oct 11 organizational meeting

  • Nov 8 GILGAMESH recommended translation by Stephen Mitchell

  • Dec 13 meeting cancelled - Have a Merry Christmas

    2008

  • Jan 7 BEOWULF recommended translation by Seamus Heaney

  • Feb 18 THE ODYSSEY by Homer
    recommended abridged version at: http://www.mala.bc.ca/~Johnstoi/homer/AbridgedOdyssey.htm
    Downstairs conference room

  • Mar 31 WIFE OF BATH by Chaucer
    Upstairs conference room

  • April 28 SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT
    (any version will work), Upstairs conference room

  • July 21THE INFERNO by Dante, recommended translation by Robert Pinsky

  • August 18 PETRARCH SONNETS selections TBA

  • September 15 SONG OF ROLAND recommended translation by Robert Harrison

  • Monday, Nov. 17, 6-8pm English sonnets before Shakespeare
    Requires no prior reading! If you have a favorite sonnet (or two or three), bring a handful of copies with you. Otherwise, come and enjoy the poetry!

Last Revised:April 7, 2010
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