Emily Dickinson
Virtual
Emily
This University of Massachusetts-Amherst site includes biographical
information and pictures of family members and important places in
Dickinson's life. The anecdotes and historical information provide
helpful context for reading her poems.
The Emily
Dickinson Journal
The Emily Dickinson Journal contains essays that provide an ongoing
examination of Dickinson and her relation to the tradition of American
poetry and women's literature. Many of these essays (but not all)
are available online at this page.
The
Classroom Electric: Dickinson, Whitman, and American Culture
(Slow to load!) Has images of original manuscripts, rare photographs,
notebooks, scrapbooks, letters, and maps in sites informed by cutting-edge
scholarship. Projects include: The "Song of Myself" Manuscripts;
Whitman and Slavery; Emily Dickinson Writing a Poem; Love and Conquest:
The Erotics of Colonial Discourse in Emily Dickinson's Poems and Letters;
"I, Too, Sing America": James M. Whitfield's America and
Other Poems; The Civil War, Class & the Dickinsons; Whitman's
Memory; and so forth. Quality appears very good, although some links
are broken. Some links to lesson plans.
From
The Life of Emily Dickinson
This page contains biographical excerpts taken from Richard B. Sewall's
The Life of Emily Dickinson. Among the contents: Poems That Indicate
a Breakdown, Perhaps Psychosis; Psychoanalytical Interpretation of
Poems 579 and 609; Psychoanalytical Interpretation of "My Life
Had Stood a Loaded Gun"
Meet
the Poet: Emily Dickinson
Alfred Habegger, author of My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life
of Emily Dickinson, discusses the poet's life in a webcast available
on the WGBH website via audio, modem and broadband video. Runs well
on RealPlayer.
Guidelines
for Reading Dickinson's Poetry
Thirteen questions to consider when reading Dickinson's poetry.
Emily
Dickinson WebQuest
"Your job is to research, write, and edit an article eulogizing
Emily Dickinson. Your article should include the following information:
(1) family: living and deceased, (2) address, (3) education (4) church
and civic membership, (5) personal accomplishments, (6) place of burial,
and (7) and a photograph of the deceased." Well laid out exercise
with plenty of related links.
Emily
Dickinson: Study Questions
Photograph
View a digital image of what may be the only existing photograph of
Emily Dickinson as an adult - and its mysterious inscription.
top
of page
Seamus Heaney
This is a 57-minute
video of Seamus Heaney's first reading at MIT. Click on "Play
Now" and select Broadband 220 if you are watching it on a high-speed
connection. You can skip ahead in the video by dragging the ball to
the right.
BBC
Audio Interview -- Listen to Seamus Heaney talk about:
his formative years 4 min 21
doing English at University, the influence of Irish writing 2
min 21
the impact of the troubles on his writing, the bog bodies poems 5
min 26
naming a collection of poems 1 min 46
Nobel Prize
-- You can read or listen to his Nobel lecture as well as read an
extended biography; his banquet speech; three select poems
Internet Poetry
Archive: Seamus Heaney page. Has poems online and bibliography.
You can listen to the readings; might be worthwhile to play some in
class.
Seamus
Heaney Home Page by Bruce Briggs and Jessica Anderson, for "Intro
to Literary Study" at KSU. They include a biography, bibliography
and selected poems online.
One idea might be to put a Heaney poem in Word and use Insert Comments
tool to do commentary and analysis after select verses.
NY
Times review of "Beowulf" translation
Literary
Illusion and the Poetry of Seamus Heaney (article)
Seamus Heaney
-- An audio introduction to the poetry, for general readers, by
Huck Gutman, Professor of English at the University of Vermont.
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of page
Sharon Olds
Modern
American Poetry: Sharon Olds
biography, interviews, essay on Olds, and more
American Academy
of Poets: Sharon Olds
features essay on Olds and Writing Narrative Poetry; listen to Olds
read The Ferryer
Sharon Olds
interviewed by Amy Hempel (audio)
Excerpt from BOMB magazine's interview.
Sharon Olds
Links
summaries and commentaries on her work
Feature by
New York State Writer's Institute
Writer's
Online interview
Olds
Letter to Laura Bush
Albany Times
article 1998
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of page
Walt Whitman
Walt
Whitman (1819-1892)
Slow to load, but this is an excellent gateway Whitman sites. Also
features a Selected Bibliography on Leaves of Grass, Common Questions
on Walt Whitman, and Walt Whitman, America's Poet (see attached PowerPoint).
Walt
Whitman and Slavery.
Part of the University of Nebraska’s Whitman and Dickinson project,
this site includes a critical essay, a bibliography, quotations, and
teaching materials
Leaves of Grass
From the University of Virginia. This site includes "Song of
Myself" from the 1855, 1881-2, and 1891-2 editions of Leaves
of Grass as well as reviews of Whitman's works and other materials.
The Classroom
Electric
Sponsored in part by the Department of Education is a constellation
of web sites on Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and nineteenth-century
American culture. Here users can explore images of original manuscripts,
rare photographs, notebooks, scrapbooks, letters, and maps in sites.
You can searching the projects through by theme, by ,poet(s), or by
keyword.
Whitman,
Walt. Leaves of Grass. 1900 Edition.
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