Langston Hughes (1902 – 1967) wrote 14 books of poetry, three books of poetry in translation, innumerable plays that have been published in some 11 works, letters, short stories, novels – an incredibly productive and creative career. All of his work, collectively and individually, represent a profound chronicle of African-American life from the 1920s to […]
Search Results for: poetry at work
National Poetry Month: Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg (1878 – 1967) is another writer whose poetry, like Walt Whitman and Robert Frost’s, could qualify him as “America’s Poet.”
National Poetry Month: John Ashbery
John Ashbery (1927 – ) has won just about every poetry prize there is to win: the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the National Book Award, the Grand Prix de Biennales Internationales de Poésie (the first English-language poet to win), the Bollingen Prize, the English […]
National Poetry Month: Gary Soto
Need poetry teaching resources? Check out our collection of poets, poems, and poetry classroom discussions led by poets and professors.
National Poetry Month: Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) published her first poem in a children’s magazine when she was 13; by 17, she had some 75 published poems in her portfolio. At 33, she received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, the first African-American to achieve that honor. In 1985, she was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant to the Library of Congress. […]
National Poetry Month: Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) has been called “America’s Poet.” When he published the first edition of Leaves of Grass in 1855 (and he kept revising and republishing it for a long time), he changed the direction of American poetry and letters. For decades, some of his poems were memorized in schoolrooms across the United States. Time […]
National Poetry Month: Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens (1879-1955), one of the “greats” of American poetry, was friends with William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore and E.E. Cummings, among many others – and his day job was being a vice president at the Hartford Insurance Company. His achievements went largely unrecognized, however, until the year before his death, when he published his […]
National Poetry Month: Derek Walcott
Derek Walcott published his first poem at age 14 in 1944 (entitled, appropriately enough, “1944, ”); had self-published two volumes of poetry by age 19; and received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1992.
National Poetry Month: “Ballistics” by Billy Collins
Billy Collins served as U.S. poet laureate for two terms (2001-2003), and New York state poet from 2004-2006. He’s published 12 books of poetry and edited three others. The New York Times has called him “the most popular poet in America, ” and he’s something rather odd in publishing circles – several of his books […]
National Poetry Month: Mona Van Duyn
Mona Van Duyn (1921-2004) received numerous prizes, accolades and recognitions, including becoming the first woman to be named U.S. poet laureate (1992-1993). Her book of poems Near Changes (1990) received the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Van Duyn once said, “I believe that good poetry can be as ornate as a cathedral or as bare as […]
National Poetry Month: Edgar Lee Masters
Edgar Lee Masters (1868 – 1950) is best known for his famous book of poetry, Spoon River Anthology (1916), in which 244 voices speak of all the passion and tedium of life, and often death. Visiting Spoon River is to visit a poetic graveyard to read the headstones. Masters produced far more than this work. […]
National Poetry Month: Sara Teasdale and Vachel Lindsay
Sara Teasdale (1884-1933) was born and raised in St. Louis, and won numerous recognitions for her poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize. She was in love with poet Vachel Lindsay, but married someone else, a local St. Louis businessman. She later divorced her husband but never married Lindsay. Lindsay (1879-1931) was born in Springfield, Illinois, and became […]
National Poetry Month: One from Keats
April is National Poetry Month in the United States and Canada, and what better way to start the celebration with a poem from the Mother Country. Our goal is to post at least once a day during April with poems, articles, reviews and a couple of giveaways. (Note that I said goal; I didn’t say […]
Why Poetry Matters 13 & 14
We’re down to the final two contributions on “Why Poetry Matters” that were submitted for the poetry and wine giveaway last month. The randomly chosen commenter received a copy of L.L. Barkat’s InsideOut: Poems, and the winner of the 100-word statements on what poetry matters received a copy of the poems and a bottle of […]
Louise Gluck’s Poetry: “A Village Life”
Louise Gluck’s poetry tells simple stories about farm workers, shop owners, the elderly, cats let out at night, teenagers falling in love and more.
Welcome to Tweetspeak Poetry
Could we write poetry together on Twitter? We asked the question long before anyone had yet answered it (in 2009). Welcome to Tweetspeak Poetry!
Brookhaven—A New Civil War Historical Romance!
Brookhaven has arrived! It’s a historical romance set in the American Civil War period. A beautiful and intriguing story, by Glynn Young, it pulls you in and doesn’t let you go.
Brookhaven: a novel
In 1915, young reporter Elizabeth Putnam of the New York World is assigned a story on the Gray Wisp. New information has come to light about this Confederate spy in the Civil War, a figure of legend, myth, and wildly competing claims. What no one knows is the man’s identity. The reporter follows leads which eventually bring her to the small Mississippi town of Brookhaven.
Going on Holiday—Things to Unwrap While We’re Away!
We’re going on holiday. But before we go, we’re sharing a few things for you to unwrap while we’re away. See you on Jan 2!
Poets and Poems: Dana Gioia and “Meet Me at the Lighthouse”
“Meet Me at the Lighthouse,” the new poetry collection by Dana Gioia, explores memory, family, and remembering what’s important.