We start another week at My Poetic Side with a focus on another of the events taking place to commemorate the anniversary of the birth of Wordsworth. We also reveal a first look at the poetry in space project which will launch in 2021.
Wordsworth’s Birth Anniversary to be Marked by Cathedral
The Cathedral of Carlisle is to host a choral tribute to the poet William Wordsworth, one of the best-known Cumbrians in history. The event will make the 250th anniversary of his birth.
The British Sinfonietta orchestra and the Cumbria Rural Choirs will take part in the event which is planned for 21st March, a little in advance of the actual anniversary. The event will begin at 7.30 pm and there will be a selection of choral music renditions of Wordsworth’s poetry during the evening.
There will also be some newly commissioned works which have been created especially for the occasion and performances of some current works as well.
Poetry to The Moon
Plans are underway to send a collection of art and poetry to the moon in 2021. The project is the work of a team from Carnegie Mellon who are planning to send an ark to the moon at some point new year.
This won’t be an ark like Noah, but rather a small craft that will be filled with poetry, rocks and plenty of other evidence of a society filled with active minds. The craft will be delivered to the moon by a lander along with a lunar rover that will be there to carry out scientific exploration.
There is no hidden agenda, the project simply wants to celebrate humanity and are referring to the event as their “poetic gift to the moon”.
The project is the work of Mark Baskinger who has been working on it for nearly a decade. He has an interest in robotics and poetry.
Unfortunately, Carnegie Mellon has already had a few disasters on the moon mission front. In 1996 they had a plan to land a couple of dune buggies on the moon, but their plans never came to fruition. This plan, however, might be different. Last year the sum of $79.5 million was awarded to a company called Astrobotic’s by the space agency. They will be carrying 18 payloads, including the rover which weighs around four pounds to the moon.
The ark will carry 110 poems about the moon, to the moon and it is hoped that they will touch down near the Lake of Death.
The poems that have made the cut for this special trip include works by Robert Louis Stevenson, Sylvia Plath, William Shakespeare and Carl Sandburg. The collection includes haiku, Scottish ballads and even “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown.
In addition to the poems, the ark will also include 8700 drawings. There will be no instructions and no explanation regarding the contents the idea is that it will be found and examined by future generations who will interpret it as they choose.
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