Programs & Activities
Elizabeth Bishop by Rosalie Thorne McKenna © Rosalie Thorne McKenna Foundation, courtesy Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona Foundation


Three-Point Tour
Thursday, October 18, at noon
Join David C. Ward, curator of “Poetic Likeness,” to explore the rhyme and reason connecting three works on view. Meet in the F Street lobby.

Author Talk: Denise Levertov: A Poet’s Life by Dana Greene
Wednesday, October 24, at noon
Author Dana Greene, dean emerita of Oxford College of Emory University, discusses and signs her biography of the late poet laureate Denise Levertov. Meet at the portrait of Levertov in “Poetic Likeness” on the second floor.

Curator’s Tours
Thursday, November 15, at noon and Saturday, January 26, at 1:00 p.m.
Tour the exhibition with David C. Ward, curator of “Poetic Likeness” (and a published poet). Meet at the exhibition entrance on the second floor.

Poetry Family Day
April 6, 2013 11:30 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
This family day celebrates National Poetry Month. Activities include poetry readings by students, a tour of “Poetic Likeness” exhibition by curator David C. Ward, music and hands-on activities. /br>

Portrait Story Days
Special themed activities will feature a hands-on art project and a story. Young visitors may drop in to listen to a story about a poet and create a special piece of art in the Portrait Gallery’s education center, room E151, on the first floor.

April 7, 2013, 2:00–5:00 p.m.: Walt Whitman
April 13, 2013, 1:00–4:00 p.m.: Langston Hughes
April 14, 2013, 2:00–5:00 p.m.: Langston Hughes
April 20, 2013, 1:00–4:00 p.m.: Gertrude Stein
April 21, 2013, 2:00–5:00 p.m.: Gertrude Stein
April 27, 2013, 1:00–4:00 p.m.: William Carlos Williams
April 28, 2013, 2:00–5:00 p.m.: William Carlos Williams

All programs are free and open to the public.

For more information and for additional programs related to “Poetic Likeness,” including poetry readings, please visit our Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter @npg#npgpoets.


The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

     Elizabeth Bishop
     From “One Art,” 1976


Banner image: Elizabeth Bishop (detail cropping) / Photograph by Rollie McKenna / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Rollie McKenna / © Rosalie Thorne McKenna Foundation, Courtesy Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona Foundation