Heaney Reads For Centennial

Professor Seamus Heaney made his first public appearance since winning the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature to read five poems in the candlelit hush of Memorial Church last night, as part of a commemorative event celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Harvard University Art Museums.

Approximately 1,200 members of the Harvard community and the public attended the event, which was the first in a series of festivities scheduled for this weekend's Centenary Celebrations, the event was publicized as an "evening of poetry and music."

Joining Heaney, who is Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, were poets John L. Ashbery '49 and Jorie Graham, who also read selections from their work.

In his invocation, Plummer Professor of Christian morals and minister in Memorial Church the Reverend Peter J. Gomes invited the audience to "behold the holiness of beauty" in the evening's performances.

President of the University Neil L. Rudenstine welcomed the crowd, and outlined the early history of the Fogg Art Museum, which began with an unexpected $200,000 gift from a benefactor with no Harvard affiliations.

Rudenstine said Elizabeth P. Fogg's gift "floated down from above." In the 100 years since, the purpose of the museums to "educate and enlighten" has remained the same, the president added.

The three poets were introduced by Kingsley Porter University Professor Helen Vendler, who gave a brief talk on the continuing relationship between the visual and the plastic arts.

In keeping with the spirit of the evening, the poets all commented upon their experiences with the visual arts and read poems connected to that theme.

"I have learned much and have been steadied and unsteadied by painters," Heaney said.

Heaney, whose selections included "Stiff Tree" and "An Artist," ended his reading with "Poet's Chair," a meditation on a sculpture in Dublin by that title.

Ashbery, whom Vendler credited with having "changed the genre of poetry," shared an anecdote from his art classes at Harvard and then read his "Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror."

Jorie Graham read "Guardian Angel of the Little Utopia" and "Guardian Angel of Self Knowledge," both of which concerned "frustrated painters [who were] only given human beings to create with."

The evening, which began with a soprano performance of Bach, concluded with Henry Purcell's "Come Ye Sons of Art Away," performed by The Centenary Chamber Orchestra; accompanying singers Pamela Murray, David Clegg, David Walker and Stephen Hermes; and the Harvard University Choir.

Among the 30 guests of honor were Warburg Professor of Economics John K. Galbraith and Yo Yo Ma '76

The evening, which began with a soprano performance of Bach, concluded with Henry Purcell's "Come Ye Sons of Art Away," performed by The Centenary Chamber Orchestra; accompanying singers Pamela Murray, David Clegg, David Walker and Stephen Hermes; and the Harvard University Choir.

Among the 30 guests of honor were Warburg Professor of Economics John K. Galbraith and Yo Yo Ma '76