Poetry highlights in honor of National Poetry Month!
Poet of the Day: Stephen Sondheim
As a lyricist and composer, Stephen Sondheim is one of the most significant figures in the history of American musical theater. His first break came when composer Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins were looking for a lyricist to help them create a contemporary interpretation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet . Together, they created the Broadway classic, West Side Story . Sondheim would go on to pen more musical theater standards, including Gypsy , Company, A Little Night Music, Follies, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and Into the Woods . 

Born in New York, New York, Sondheim began his career while still in high school, when he wrote a satirical musical and shared it with a friend’s father, the great lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, who became his mentor. Sondheim majored in music at Williams College, studying with the avant garde composer, Milton Babbitt.

In his career, Sondheim won eight Tony awards and eight Grammy Awards. In 1985, he shared the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with James Lapine for Sunday in the Park with George . He also won an Academy Award for the song "Sooner or Later,” from the soundtrack for Dick Tracy. In 2015, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

His songs continue to inspire writers and artists, and two films nominated for Best Picture in the 72nd Academy Awards included Sondheim classics: “Being Alive” in Marriage Story , and “Send in the Clowns” in Joker .
This poet belongs in our classrooms because…
  • When students recognize the lyrics to the songs they love as a unique kind of poetry, their appreciation for the art grows marvelously.
  • Sondheim’s ardent defense of “true rhymes” in his memoir, Finishing the Hat, provides a more lucid explanation of the craft of rhyming than any textbook. Adapting his explanation in a way students can understand will deepen their appreciation of the work of poets. 
  • His work shows an astute understanding of human nature. As a child of divorce and as a gay artist, he certainly faced challenges that many of our students can understand. Even more importantly, his lyrics give voice to a wide range of the human experience, from sorrow to joy, from boredom to inspiration, from depravity to redemption. His poetry is sometimes playful, often surprising, and always humane.
A Poem by Stephen Sondheim
An Excerpt from "Sunday"

Sunday, by the blue purple yellow red water
On the green purple yellow red grass
Let us pass through our perfect park
Pausing on a Sunday
By the cool blue triangular water
On the soft green elliptical grass
As we pass through arrangements of shadow
Toward the verticals of trees
Forever
By the blue purple yellow red water
On the green orange violet mass of the grass
In our perfect park
Made of flecks of light
And dark
And parasols
Bum bum bum bum bum bum
Bum bum bum
People strolling through the trees
Of a small suburban park
On an island in the river
On an ordinary Sunday
Sunday
Sunday
Other Lyrics and Books by Stephen Sondheim
For those with a wicked sense of humor: "A Little Priest," from Sweeny Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
For those feeling adrift: "No One is Alone," from Into the Woods
For those wondering what’s next: "Move On," from Sunday in the Park with George
For those thinking about the nature of truth: "Someone in a Tree," from Pacific Overtures
For those wanting to party: "The Miller’s Son," from A Little Night Music
For strong women, and those who love them: "I’m Still Here," from Follies
For those avoiding a difficult decision: "On the Steps of the Palace," from Into the Woods
For those feeling a little cynical: "Now You Know," from Merrily We Roll Along

And for those wanting to know more about Sondheim and the poetic art of songwriting, his two memoirs are:
Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes
Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981–2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany
Classroom Connections
Thinking about lyrics as poetry, students use their imagination to analyze two different artistic mediums. They demonstrate their understanding by writing their own poetry in the form of song lyrics that give voice to visual art subjects .
Now in his third career, S.D. Stigler teaches English, debate, and oral interpretation at Arlington High School in Arlington, Texas. In his free time, he enjoys live theater, music, and traveling with his family. At this very moment, his geriatric pets, Holly the cat and Yogi the dog, are staring at "Snack Man" with a mixture of anticipation and judgment. And yet he remains confident that he will finish writing that novel one of these days. In the meantime, he can be followed on Twitter at @jupiterscomets.