Special Collections & University Archives
Poets and writers are as common in Western New England as hills, and through the years, many have read their work at the Five Colleges. The recordings in this audio archive represent a fraction of readings and lectures by visiting poets, including local luminaries from Robert Francis to Robert Frost.
cummings, e. e. (1954)
A reading before the Literary Society of the University of Massachusetts, 1954.
Francis, Robert (1967)
The local poet read often in Amherst, including at the Summer Arts Festival in 1967 and several times in the 1970s on the local radio show, “Poems to a listener.”
- Summers Arts Program, 1967: Summer Arts Festival
- Poems to a listener:
1977 Oct. 5
1978 Mar. 1
1978 Oct. 4
1979 Mar. 7
Frost, Robert
The major figure in poetry circles in western New England in the mid-twentieth century, Robert Frost spoke on many occasions at the Five Colleges.
Kunitz, Stanley (1969)
Glasscock Poetry Contest, May 1969.
MacDiarmid, Hugh (1967)
A lecture given at UMass Amherst, 1967.
Merrill, James (1969)
Glascock Poetry Contest, May 1969.
Wilbur, Richard (1967)
Broadcast through WFCR radio’s Five College Lecture Hall during the Summer Arts program, UMass Amherst.
