Lion's Eye Favorite: Lamont Younger Poets Read Their Works

June 26, 2009

James, Sophie and Alex (l to r) at the Lamont Younger Poets reading

The Lamont Younger Poets Prize has been awarded each spring since 2004 to a small group of lowers and uppers. The prize recognizes "promise as well as achievement in the early years of a student's developing craft."

This year's award recipients – Sophie Haigney '12, James Fahey '11 and Alex Olapade '11 – recently gave a reading of their poems at the Class of 1945 Library. 

All three Lamont Younger Poets are voracious readers, but with very different tastes. Sophie's inspiration comes from poets Walt Whitman, Carolyn Forché, Mark Strand and C.K. Williams, and song lyrics – particularly from the Grateful Dead. She never misses an issue of The New Yorker, "just for the poems." And then there's the poetry Sophie's mother used to read aloud to her at bedtime. "I remember her reading a lot of Robert Frost and Keats, and their works have influenced me throughout my life."

Alex reads his poemAlex is a fan of Shel Silverstein: "I know it may seem childish, but I enjoy the simplicity of his poetry. It's something that anyone can enjoy." Alex, who "likes poetry for its freedom," seeks out "double meaning and irony" in his own poems.

"Poets that I enjoy reading are Robert Frost, Lewis Carroll, and Langston Hughes," explains James, whose submitted poem was directly inspired by William Faulkner's novel, As I Lay Dying. "My favorite poem is 'Invictus' by William Ernest Henley," he adds. "I really like the idea that though there are things we can't control, we each control ourselves. That I am, 'The master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.' " James, who writes poetry infrequently, broke new ground in "Cardboard Boxes," the poem he submitted. "I usually write poems in rhyming couplets. The sestina I submitted to the Lamont Poetry contest was really out of the ordinary for me."

The three young poets have benefited from a variety of supportive influences. James remembers a seventh-grade teacher who got him started down the creative writing road. Alex cites his Exeter teachers as the strongest influence: "They give a lot of feedback." He also keeps in his mind this refrain from "every English teacher at Exeter": "Show, don't tell."

For Sophie, "the biggest influences in my life are all the people with whom I have built relationships – family, friends, teachers, mentors – both at Exeter and at home. My experiences with them have resulted in a whole new level of depth to my writing. My first year at Exeter has given me a lot of new material."

Todd Hearon, English instructor and poet, reviews all Lamont Younger Poets' submissions and selects the winners. "We received about double the submissions this year over previous years," says Hearon. "I credit the teachers of preps and lowers for help with getting the word out, encouraging their students to submit their work. Clearly, there's a lot of poetry being assigned and encouraged in English classes – particularly around the visit of the Lamont poet." 

The three winners were honored, and surprised, by their selection. "I knew that some of my peers were submitting poems, and the poems that I had heard were excellent," says James. For Sophie, the limelight took some getting used to. "I don't share my poems with others very often, so winning this prize was a big shock to my system."

Interested in learning more?

Read about the Lamont Younger Poets program, which commemorates the dedication of English instructor Rex McGuinn to student poetry at Exeter…

Learn about the long list of renowned poets who have come to Exeter as Lamont Poets, starting in 1983 with Jorge Luis Borges…

Learn more about Exeter's English Department…

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Lion's note: this story originally appeared on May 22, 2009.