Literature, Poetry, and Drama   

*New Day and Time*

Fridays April 4, 11, 25 and May 2 (skipping Good Friday)

1:00 – 3:00pm

University Commons

Poets have often been inspired by paintings and vice versa. Sometimes art works have inspired music as well. Each week we will look at and discuss several pairings of poems and paintings or occasionally some music. A painting will be sent out ahead of each session and members will be asked to write a paragraph, a poem, or a haiku in response which will be shared in small groups. Each session will include a mini lecture of background on the artists and poets, lots of discussion, and some small group sharing.

Beth Spencer is an experienced Study Group leader with a love of art and degrees in social work, education and English. CarolynRose Stone also has a love affair with art and an MFA in creative writing. They shared some of the poetry and art in a graduate class they taught prior to the pandemic.

This study group will read aloud from and discuss the three Theban plays of Sophocles (Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus). We will get to know something about the Sophoclean Hero, who demonstrates "that man's keenest sight is blindness, his highest knowledge ignorance, his soaring confidence and hope an illusion." In addition to reading, we will watch a performance of The Gospel at Colonus, with Morgan Freeman. Text: Robert Fagles, Sophocles: The Three Theban Plays.

Marilyn Scott has taught in the Classical Studies and UM's Great Books program. Since retiring, she has led numerous OLLI study groups.

Who was Shakespeare? We’ll look at this long-standing (beginning in the 1590’s!) question of who wrote the most glorious plays and poems in the English language. We’ll study evidence and hints in the First Folio, Shakespeare’s contemporaries, the Stratford connection, and the deep familiarity displayed in the plays with Italy, France, classical literature and Elizabethan aristocracy.

Michele Roberge holds a B.A. in English Literature/Speech & Drama from St. Mary’s College and an M.A. in Theatre from University of Michigan. She worked in presenting and producing theatre in California for 40 years, and taught Shakespeare for OLLI at Cal State Long Beach for 17 years.