Ellen Bryant Voigt has published six books of poems, including, most recently, Shadow of Heaven, as well as an influential volume of essays on craft entitled The Flexible Lyric. “Each of Voigt’s books has been an integral entity of its own, while building into a significant body of work,” notes judge Edward Hirsch. In Shadow of Heaven, lush, visceral renderings of the natural world and embodied human experience are trained and shaped by Voigt’s musician’s ear and lyric restraint. Voigt was one of the founders of the Goddard College Low Residency MFA Program and director of the Program in its reincarnation at Warren Wilson College. She is currently Vermont State Poet.
Click here to listen to Ellen Bryant Voigt read her poem “The Last Class” at the Folger on October 21, 2002.
