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Robert Francis

Have you ever read any poems by Robert Francis? Here are a few on the Poetry Foundation website. I've been meaning for years to assign his work to my composition students, and finally I assigned a pair of his poems in English 101 this quarter.

The other two poets the students can write about are Jane Kenyon and Cornelius Eady; I've assigned work by these poets before, and they are pretty popular with my students. I think Mr. Francis is running a distant third so far, but I also notice that the students who are writing about his poems are really enjoying them, so I think I found some of his kindred spirits (as Anne of Green Gables would say).

What have you been reading lately?

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