In this developing section you will find annotated links to web sites that provide commentary and insight into the peotry of notable American and international poets.

Featured poets: Emily Dickinson, Seamus Heaney, Sharon Olds, Walt Whitman

Charlie Rose Interview of Seamus Heaney - YouTube Video

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.

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.

Classroom technology tutorials & projects that foster student creativity & empowerment.

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.

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

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.

Make sure to visit our sister site "Teaching History with Technology" at thwt.org and learn about incorporating technology effectively in the history and social studies classroom.