“I still don’t know what poetry is,” Dr. Edward Hirsch said at the annual fall faculty convocation on Wednesday.
Hirsch, the convocation’s special guest and a poet of 40 years, as well as the author of four prose books on the subject, was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, for his work as president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
Hirsh has won numerous awards throughout his literary career, including the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Lavan Younger Poets Award.
“The arts have an enduring role in the academy,” President DeGioia said in his introduction of the keynote speaker. “Our work should always be guided with the intent of doing more, of being more.”
Hirsch opened his acceptance speech with an excerpt from his poem, “A Partial History of My Stupidity.” His speech described creativity to be “the celebration of the unexpected.”
