Princeton Classics was honored last month to play host to a distinguished panel of poets, translators and artists for “Life, Liberty, Love, Food & Drink: On Poetry and the Creative Process,” a reading and discussion in celebration of the The Classical Outlook’s Special Poetry Issue.

Before a capacity lecture hall, poetic luminaries like A.E. Stallings, Charles Martin, and Christopher Childers took turns to read their poems, explain their engagement with classical antiquity and take questions from the audience on their work and work philosophies.

“The room was packed full, the panelists alive with insights and intuitions,” said Barbara Graziosi, Ewing Professor of Greek and chair of the Classics department. “We could all feel the energy unleashed by crafting new poems out of old materials.”

“Events like these remind me that ancient art and ideas—however much we may cherish them—only mean something when we are willing to engage with them,” said A.J. Kumar ’27, who attended with a group of friends interested in Latin translation. “Hearing how these poets were reminded of the classics and inspired to create by events so ordinary as walking a dog or attending a lecture on Aristotle was a beautiful reminder that it is up to me to discover the epic in the everyday.”

The Classical Outlook is the official journal of the American Classical League and the leading publication on classics pedagogy. It is also a major market for original poetry on classical themes. Under the journal’s editor Philip Walsh and poetry editor Rachel Hadas, who co-moderated the Princeton event, the Special Poetry Issue assembled original classics-inspired works from nearly fifty poets.

“I was so happy that we were able to celebrate the special poetry issue of The Classical Outlook at Princeton University. It was such a unique experience to hear from so many accomplished poets, artists, and translators,” said Walsh. “I was especially proud of Emma Hunter, illustrator of The Classical Outlook. A youth among veterans, she offered a thoughtful reflection on her process as an artist and what inspires her as a student of the ancient Mediterranean world.”

The Classics Department distributed free copies to the many undergraduate students in attendance, while additional copies were available for purchase.

“I loved hearing the poems and their context in the author's own voices and enjoyed the sprinkling of creative artwork that aligned with the classical themes,” said prospective Classics minor Joseph Gonzalez ’28, referring to Hunter’s presentation of her work. “With the poems, the classical stories begin to feel like advice from a close friend or even our own.”

Other attendees came away with their own personal highlights. For Kumar, it was A.E. Stallings, Oxford Professor of Poetry and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, whose poem “Hippiad” he recognized “as a lovely continuation of her earlier Fagles Lecture” at Princeton in 2023.

Graziosi specifically mentioned readings by panelists Meredith Bergmann and C. Luke Soucy.

“I especially enjoyed the balance of the classical and the familiar: a difficult mother-in-law demands gifts suitable for Venus; rosy-fingered Dawn gives way to bright and easy tunes… ‘here comes the Sun,’” she said, referring to their poems “Psyche Revisits the Closet of Venus” and “Prelude to an Aubade,” respectively.

“Perhaps the best compliment on the evening,” Walsh added, came from Graziosi herself, who “noticed that the live audience was a delightful mix of classicists, creative writers, linguists, comparatists, philosophers, historians, and translators.”

For Walsh, it was a sign of the cultural health of poetry, classics, and the exchange between them: “That the event could draw such an eclectic group is a testament to the appeal.”

“Life, Liberty, Love, Food and Drink” was co-sponsored by the Departments of Classics and Comparative Literature, the Humanities Council, and the Bain-Swiggett Fund, Department of English. Extra copies of the Special Poetry Issue are available for purchase online. Plans are underway to publish the issue as a collection.