Visit our new Front Page Store . New Sign up for MyNews Receive headline news, full articles and breaking news via the Web or wireless device. In her 1996 Nobel lecture, Wislawa Szymborska described the film biographies of great scientists and artists, which she said are often filled with scenes of high drama and spectacle. Their work is hopelessly unphotogenic.
Someone sits at a table or lies on a sofa while staring motionless at a wall or ceiling.
Once in a while this person writes down seven lines only to cross out one of them 15 minutes later, and then another hour passes, during which nothing happens. That said, there is no shortage of films of, by, or about poets and their work, including two that are or are about to be in current release. For this final Sunday of National Poetry Month, here is a quiz about poets and poetry at the movies. This documentary about a San Francisco-born poet was commissioned by John F. Kennedy and won an Academy Award in 1964. John Campbell, a history teacher at Detroit Country Day was the source of inspiration for the star's performance.