On Oct. 15, University Seminar, “Artist, Activist, Deep-Sea Diver: The Role of the Poet in Society,” hosted its sixth annual Arcadia Poets Symposium.

The seminar, taught by Dr. Ellen Murphey, adjunct professor of English, hosts a panel of published poets made up of Arcadia students, alumni, and faculty who read or performed their work and then hosted a discussion.

The panel featured current Arcadia students: Lashanna Bryant ’21, Jon McCoy ’20, Marilyn Sieger ’21. Also featured were Creative Writing alumni: Chad Frame ’16MFA, Sara Wenger ’97MFA, adjunct professor of English, Lisa Gratz ’09MFA, adjunct professor of English, and Francis Daulerio ’14MFA. 

“The symposium, and the subsequent one-on-one interviews with the poets, teaches students that poets walk among us every day, that there are multiple ways into writing and appreciating poems, and that poems offer something of incalculable benefit to the world, in the same way that music and other art forms do,” said Dr. Murphey “It’s also a chance for them to experience poetry as a community of people who enjoy playing and experimenting with language. It makes it easier for them to envision themselves as poets, and afterwards to approach their own writing with increased commitment.”