This is the fourth of several special episodes of Liberal Arts Voices featuring this year’s Penn State Laureate, poet and Professor of English and Womens’ Studies, Robin Becker. Throughout the fall semester, Liberal Arts Voices will be collaborating with Penn State Live to cover the poems and work of Professor Becker.
In this podcast Professor Becker joins Dean Long; CLA Enrichment Coordinator and PSU English alum, Ashley Tarbet; English major Natalie Kovak; and English grad student William Woolfit to discuss Professor Becker’s poem “The Round Barn.” You can read the full version of “The Round Barn” on Penn State Live.
Professor Becker begins by describing how she became fascinated by the history of round cultural structures like barns. She talks about her interest in examining how these shapes might also be interpreted as religious symbols. The group mentions several examples of iconic round structures, like Frank Lloyd Wright’s Kentuck Knob or the Neff Barn in PA. They go on to discuss the shapes, imagery, and symbolism at work in “The Round Barn” and what these themes might reveal.
We invite you to respond to this poem or to the question that Professor Becker asks at the conclusion of her poem: What buildings or monuments or homes strike you as especially original? How do they pressure or expand community standards?
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To watch a video of Professor Becker reading this poem or to read the actual poem, visit Penn State Live.
We encourage all of our listeners to write to us with comments, questions, or suggestions at laus@la.psu.edu. We may even respond to these comments on the next episode of Liberal Arts Voices.