Exploring Terrifying Poetry: Analyzing Louise Bogan’s Three Songs

In this podcast episode of The New Yorker Poetry Podcast, Dr. Thea Lasky selects and discusses Louise Bogan's poem 'Three Songs' from The New Yorker Archive. Lasky highlights the terrifying and haunting aspects of the poem, emphasizing the fear, weeping, and internal lack of grounding present in the verses. She explores the idea of psychic power, the eternal pain of being trapped within oneself, and the voice of the self, ghost, or demon. Lasky also reveals the backstory of Bogan's crying fits and the child ghost named Lobelia that haunted her. By reading and analyzing 'Three Songs,' Lasky examines what makes a poem terrifying and how Bogan uses language and rhyme to evoke a sense of unease.