Image of wood engraving from Thomas Bewick's History of British Birds (1797-1804)

The Keats-Shelley Association of America looks forward to hosting its annual Stuart Curran Symposium on Friday, October 24th, 2025, at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus on the topic of “Birdsong.” 

The day's events will feature two panels in the morning: one on birdsong in Romantic and modern and contemporary English-language poetry, another comparing birdsong in Romantic poetry with poetry in other periods, languages, and traditions.  After lunch, attendees will have the chance to go on a birding walk in Central Park led by a professional guide. 

The afternoon features a keynote lecture engaging with birdsong in Romantic poetry and environmental studies by Francesca Mackenney, author of Birdsong, Speech, and Poetry: The Art of Composition in the Long Nineteenth Century (Cambridge UP, 2022). 

The day will conclude with a teaching talk by music historian Glenda Goodman accompanied by the live performance of compositions that incorporate birdsong. We look forward to welcoming you to a symposium that brings together Romantic poetry with poetry of other periods, languages, and places, and in relation to environmental, music, and sound studies.

"Finches and Bamboo," by the Chinese Song dynasty Emperor Huizong (1082-1135).  Collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York.

Tentative Program:

Welcome and Introduction

Panel I on Afterlives of Romantic Birdsong in Modern and Contemporary Literature and Culture

Eric Eisner (Associate Professor of English, George Mason University)

Alexander Schlutz (Associate Professor of English, John Jay College and CUNY Graduate Center)

Orrin Wang (Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Maryland, College Park)

Panel II on Romantic Birdsong in Comparative and Global Context

Chris Barrett (Associate Professor of English, Louisiana State University)

Paresh Chandra (Assistant Professor of English, Williams College)

Christopher GoGwilt (Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Fordham University)

Lunch

Birding Excursion in Central Park, led by Tod Winston, Birding Guide and Biodiversity Specialist, NYC Bird Alliance

Keynote Lecture by Francesca Mackenney, Third-Century Research Fellow in Writing and Place at Manchester Metropolitan University and author of Birdsong, Speech and Poetry: The Art of Composition of the Long Nineteenth Century (Cambridge University Press, 2022)

Teaching Talk on birdsong and music by Glenda Goodman (Associate Professor of Music, University of Pennsylvania), featuring live performances of musical compositions inspired by birdsong.

Reception

"Two Orioles," c. 1610, Mughal Period, India.  Collection of the Ashmolean, University of Oxford.