American Poetry

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Linda Sue Grimes, Ronald W. Grimes

Feature Writer Linda Sue Grimes

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Linda Sue Grimes

Whitman's Learn'd Astronomer

Walt Whitman's sprawling eight-line poem showcases the poet's freewheeling style while dramatizing the wildly romantic world view portrayed in almost all of his poems. more...

Dickinson's 'Each Life Converges'

The speaker of Emily Dickinson's mystic poem offers a refreshing look at the soul's journey from the astral plane to the physical plane. It also alludes to reincarnation. more...

D. C. Berry's Fishy Metaphor

A fascinating little poem that uses an extended metaphor is D. C. Berry's "On Reading Poems to a Senior Class at South High." more...

Yogananda's 'The Cup of Eternity'

The omniscient speaker metaphorically compares a thirsty traveler to a spiritual seeker on the path to God-realization. more...

March Poet – Lawrence Ferlinghetti

One might well argue that anyone who writes is "constantly risking absurdity." But Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem dramatizes how especially true it is of the poet. more...

April Poet – Etheridge Knight

Born April 19, 1931, in Corinth, Mississippi, Knight joined the Army in 1947. He served in Korea, where he suffered shrapnel wounds. He was discharged in 1957. more...

Sedam's 'Desafinado'

The speaker in Malcolm M. Sedam's "Desafinado" takes the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg to task for what the speaker considers to be devastation to the human soul. more...

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American Poetry

Emily Dickinson: Religious Exile?

By: Karen Elizabeth Devlin

The articles analyses images of religious exile and exclusion in the poetry of Emily Dickinson more...

The Reclusive Emily Dickinson

By: Simon August Thalmann

A discussion of American poet Emily Dickinson's reclusive nature as a distraction from the what should be the reader's true focus on her life -- her poetry. more...

Kenneth Fearing: Biography

By: Meg Nola

Fearing's poetry and writing offer a unique use of language and a glimpse into the darker, quirkier side of 20th century American life. more...

The Last Time We Were Children

By: Feature Writer Melissa Howard

Penny Johnson's first book of poetry is a personal exploration of life through the small but significant moments of memory. more...

Poetry, Politics and the Writer

By: Jessica Slentz

A lyric and challenging collection of essays by Adrienne Rich, one of America's most influential contemporary poets. more...

Lew Welch: Biography

By: Meg Nola

Brief biography of the poet and friend of Beat writers Jack Kerouac and Gary Snyder. Welch left a suicide note in 1971, then disappeared without a trace. more...

Robinson Jeffers Resurrected

By: Catherine Owen

Robinson Jeffers is an important and still-neglected American poet. His ecological and literary vision of the land was prophetic. He died on January 20th, 1962. more...

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