The Writer

Originating in 1887 and currently being published by Madavor Media in Massachusetts, The Writer is a monthly periodical/magazine dedicated to “expanding and supporting the work of professional writers with a straightforward presentation of industry information, writing instruction and professional and personal motivation. In the pages of our magazine, writers share experiences, expertise, struggles, advice, successes and suggestions” (Submission Guidelines). Throughout this resource, readers will find articles written by experienced as well as emerging writers devoted to a variety of topics, such as improving writing strategies and tips for attaining a related career. Articles usually range from 300 all the way to 3,000 words, depending on the topic or department. Length requirements are specified in the magazine’s webpage under “Submission Guidelines.” Details concerning required content within each submission for each department are given, as well.

Each issue of The Writer contains a note from Editor Alicia Anstead, an English department graduate of American University and the University of Maine. In each note from the editor located on page four of The Writer¸ Anstead includes a personal explanation of that issue’s content and the mission in publishing each article. For easy navigation of the magazine, a Table of Contents is located on the first two pages, with the name of the article underneath the corresponding department. Only one article per department is published monthly, some examples being “Type Faster” and “Make Them Tell Stories” from the October, 2013 issue. Underneath each article title is a brief summary and the name of the contributor; whether or not they are an aspiring or professional writer is not specified. Each article is in paragraph form, sometimes divided up into different sections for organizational sake, and the majority of them include accompanying photographs, mostly of the authors themselves.

The Writer contains a vast amount of graphics appealing to the eye of the reader, some of these being advertisements. Most of the ads obviously include things that writers would be interested in, such as self-publication companies and colleges. Others include store ads, attempting to persuade readers to buy their “organizing essentials” such as bookends and desktop organizers from WalMart or Staples.

The Writer can be a useful resource for those ambitious writers looking to better their writing strategies or careers by advice of the more experienced, those who have “already been there and done that.” On the other hand, this magazine is also devoted to readers who merely enjoy writing as a hobby and like to read about the experiences of other people sharing the same interest.

Works Cited
“Meet the Staff.” The Writer. Ed. Alicia Anstead. Madavor Media, n.d. Web.
“Submission Guidelines.” The Writer. Ed. Alicia Anstead. Madavor Media, n.d. Web.
McGarrigle, Dale. “Make Them Tell Stories.” The Writer Oct. 2013: 18-19. Print.
Willis, Jennifer. “Type Faster.” The Writer Oct. 2013: 12-13. Print.

The Elements of Style

Privately printed and copyrighted in Ithaca, New York, 1918, by author William Strunk, Jr. himself, the original form of The Elements of Style had a slightly different appearance than the latest version. Now containing revisions, a new introduction, and an entirely new chapter dedicated to writing, all composed by E.B. White, the fourth printing of this book was published in 1959 by the Macmillan Company in New York. This new version contains a mere five chapters, four of those by the original author Strunk and the last chapter by White. “A Note on This Book,” also by White and located at the beginning of the text, explains to readers how White himself became a contributing author to The Elements of Style and also how and why he revised some of Strunk’s work. By writing a piece for The New Yorker regarding this textbook he had used when he was a student at Cornell (he was a former student of English Professor William Strunk’s in 1919), White’s brief essay was recognized by the Macmillan Company and he was asked to make a few revisions in the text and compose a new chapter on style, with the essay that he had written for The New Yorker appearing in the new issue of The Elements of Style as the introduction.

Following the Note and Introduction by White, readers will find a brief Table Of Contents with an outline of the five chapters. Originally meant to be used as a textbook (and sometimes still is), Strunk intended his book to introduce students to the principal requirements of style, containing essentials to becoming a successful writer. Strunk writes as though he is commanding readers to adhere to the rules in which he has laid out, rather than merely suggesting that they follow them. Parts of his “commandments” are rather humorous (at least for an English student), and this in turn somewhat lightens the mood of his “rulebook,” if you will.

The first chapter, titled “Elementary Rules of Usage” deals with just that. This book is rather simple and to the point, with anything unnecessary or that takes away from the essential subject matter eliminated, as readers will soon find out that Strunk was a huge fan of eliminating needless or redundant words. As a matter of fact, he would probably criticize the previous sentence, arguing that either “needless” or “redundant” should be removed. The first chapter is broken down into seven short sections; some of those being: “Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding commas,” “Enclosing parenthetic expressions,” and so forth. The preceding chapters follow that same format—Strunk introduces the subtopic of each chapter and gives a brief summary of the specific “rule” of writing. The second chapter covers the principles of composition, such as how to form effective sentences and ideas. The third and shortest chapter discusses form, such as when to italicize or capitalize titles of different works. The last chapter by Strunk is “Words and Expressions Commonly Misused,” a self-explanatory title. This chapter is quite useful for those who don’t know when to use similar words like who or whom. The final chapter, “An Approach to Style,” composed by White who proposes his own set of writing rules, captures the same essence and style as that of Strunk.

This pocket-size book is rather beneficial and convenient to students interested in the basics of the English language and also to teachers who wish to sum it all up into five simple chapters. Though unarguably brief, Strunk and White efficaciously capture the rules or commandments of successfully writing and using the English language.

Works Cited

Strunk, William, Jr., and Elwyn B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. New York: Macmillan, 1959. Print.

Robert Frost’s Nature Poetry: A Selective Annotated Bibliography

Flowers, trees, butterflies, stars, snow, fire, and ice– he wrote about it all. Robert Frost, often thought of as a nature poet and a Romantic, frequently comes across as a very simplistic writer simply because he writes about simplistic things. This may be true on the surface, but what some do not realize is that there is, in fact, deeper meaning hidden beneath his simple words. Quite often, Frost uses the natural world in which we live to convey larger and relatable ideas. In many of his poems, including “Birches,” “The Road Not Taken,” and “Design,” in which most of us are familiar, Robert Frost writes of nature primarily as a way to communicate abstract or more complex concepts regarding mankind. As a matter of fact, the argument could be made that Frost isn’t really writing about nature (environment and scenery) at all, rather using it as a tool to compose ideas relating to human nature.
The following selective annotated bibliography includes a variety of sources discussing the way in which Frost uses these simple elements of nature to demonstrate ideas and notions relating to the actions and the way of life of humanity. Humans are not simple beings in the least; we are extremely complex and intricate, exceptionally dynamic, and cannot be easily understood. However, Frost attempts to extract themes of mankind by using themes of nature metaphorically, subtly conveying his ideas through this type of nature imagery. Therefore, when one reads of birches or of apples, the quick assumption that there is nothing more to the poem besides what appears on the surface should not be made. Apples are not always apples; birches are not always birches. Step back and take a closer look– beneath the surface, between the lines, deeper into each word, and discover the hidden beauty within.
Works featured in this bibliography may include those focusing on a specific poem, topic, or theme of Frost’s; others may examine the poet and his poetry as a whole. Some included articles provide conflicting ideas of scholarly critics relating to the poetry and form a persuasive argument defending or sometimes defying these scholars. These sources are particularly useful to those looking to research the thematic nature of Frost’s poetry or those who are just interested in his methodology in constructing metaphorical poetry using the most basic and fundamental aspect of the world—nature.

Baym, Nina. “An Approach to Robert Frost’s Nature Poetry.” American Quarterly 17.4 (1965): 713-23. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

This ten page article regarding misconceptions of Robert Frost himself along with his poetry argues that a lot of critics have labeled Frost as a “nature poet,” but simply assume that he is another version of Ralph Waldo Emerson or perhaps William Wordsworth. Baym goes on to say that many people during this time period only seen Frost as an “inspired plowman.” The entirety of this short article is dedicated to the misconceptions of Frost’s seasonal imagery along with other aspects of nature and how they have been overlooked. Baym also uses pieces by authors such as Lynen and Bower to support the thesis that Frost’s subjects and methodology derive from his “conviction that poetry is a unique discipline with its own characteristic subject matters as well as its own uses of language.” Baym uses the method of describing a misconception and then making her own assumptions, backing them with other scholarly works.

Dickey, Frances. “Frost’s “The Tuft of Flowers”: A Problem of Other Minds.” The New England Quarterly 75.2 (2002): 299-311. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

This is a twelve page scholarly article from The New England Quarterly Journal. Author Frances Dickey describes in depth the history of Frost’s “The Tuft of Flowers,” people’s reactions to it, and includes an analysis of the poem itself. Dickey is continuously quoting lines from the poem and interpreting their meaning, such as the incident where the speaker is standing alone in a field turning the hay to dry. Dickey also introduces other interpreters’ opinions, such as those of Frank Lentricchia and Richard Poirier and integrates some pieces of their scholarly works. Dickey has segmented her essay into several different pieces, and in her section title “The Poem,” she explains how flowers and other aspects of nature are brought into play. There are several other portions, such as “The Pragmatism” and “The Revision,” where the author describes changes that Frost made to his poem.

Fagan, Deirdre, and Robert Seltzer. “Frost’s “Design”.” Explicator 68.1 (2010): 48-50. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 30 September 2013.

Though this article is short and to the point, it most certainly contains a number of important ideas regarding Frost’s “Design.” The authors begin by quoting Frost himself, that the mistake shouldn’t be made “of assuming that [his] simplicity is that of an untutored child.” A few other scholars are quoted, including Laurence Perrine and Everett Carter. The authors dispute some ideas that these critics present—including the statement that Frost is “grim” in his poetry. The article is spent arguing that Frost uses the world of nature to convey larger ideas, the poem opening with a scene in nature and ending with a reflection in the form of a series of questions. The ending sentence sums up the entire article: “The observation in “Design” is a metaphor and, as such, should allow readers to leap from the world of insects to that of humans, and likewise, to understand Frost’s enthymematic sentiment without being sentimental.”

Ghasemi, Parvin, and Elham Mansooji. “Nature and Man in Robert Frost.” CLA Journal 49.4 (2006): 462-481. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

This extensive article inspects Frost’s poems and the exploration of the relationship between humans and the natural world. The authors analyze how Frost uses the confrontation between humanity and nature to lead to the confrontation of humanity itself. The idea that the duties of humans are to use whatever they have for survival, whether it be their minds or hearts, is also examined in this article. By doing so, humans gain knowledge and can better understand humanity and nature as a whole. All of these concepts are organized and discussed throughout the entirety of this journal article.

Kearns, Katherine. “The Place is the Asylum: Women and Nature in Robert Frost’s Poetry.” Twentieth Century Literature 59.2 (1987): 190-210. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

This useful 20 page article provides a brief summary and analysis of a large variety of Frost poetry. The author goes into descriptive detail of the symbolism and metaphors being used within the poems and delivers evidence by quoting or paraphrasing lines from the poem. For example, Kearns proposes the notion that water represents something more in her statement “The tension in the speaker is personified in nature by the lake, whose water must suggest a deep and troubled sexuality manifesting itself in a self-acknowledged madness.” The author backs this statement with examples from the primary source itself. The entirety of this article is dedicated to Frost’s metaphorical meanings and symbolism to human nature, using literal nature as a tool. This article is meant for a wide audience; intellectual background concerning the poetry is not required, for the author does a magnificent job at describing the poems within the article.

Klein, Amelia. “The Counterlove of Robert Frost.” Twentieth Century Literature 54.3 (2008):362-387. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

This rather extensive article compares Frost to the Romantic Wordsworth, in depth, and describes different ideas that both writers shared. Complex ideas are covered in detail, such as the rejection that nature is merely a linguistic construct and the notion that spaces of human dwelling are enfolded in a natural world that both sustains and threatens to undo them. Klein quotes several lines from Wordsworth and Frost, making connections between the two, such as both their understandings of our figures being part of nature’s flesh. The author also makes metaphysical speculations, like poetry being connected to the natural world through its rootedness in the human body. Theories of Frost are described in detail that support the thesis that Frost shares with his romantic forebears a vision of the natural world as the source and context of our lives.

Lahaderne, Giordano. “Frost’s “October”.” Explicator 65.4 (2007): 224-226. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

This rather short but significant article examines Frost’s popular poem “October” and how it is critically overlooked. Lahaderne quotes scholar William Scheck in his first sentence to form his thesis that the poetry of Frost seems to be quite simple on the surface but it is a lot more complex upon reflection. The author goes on to explain how Frost uses Greek mythological symbolism to veil the poem’s universal themes on the nature of life itself. The rest of the article examines “October” very closely and its hidden messages, and also how symbolism and Greek mythology is used throughout.

Liebman, Sheldon W. “Robert Frost, Romantic.” Twentieth Century Literature 42.4 (1996): 417-37. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

This lengthy twenty-two page article is constructed in an organized manner—at the end, there is a section dedicated purely to “Notes,” going into further detail on some of the ideas presented within the text. The beginning of the article describes the assumption that Frost is a Romantic, in that romanticism is defined as a simple-minded picture of human experience, and that he is not a Romantic, based on the idea that his poetry portrays him to be a tough-minded realist. Liebman believes both of these assumptions to be false, and spends the rest of the article explaining why and supporting his theories with those of other scholars, based on the subject of the use of nature. This article is written in first person and has a variety of examples relating to the topic of how systematically and metaphorically Frost uses nature throughout the majority of his poetry.

Link, Eric Carl. “Nature’s Extra-Vagrants: Frost and Thoreau in the Maine Woods.” Papers on Language & Literature 33. (1997): 182-197. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

This sixteen page article examines the relationships between Frost’s nature poetry and that of Thoreau. Link argues that both Thoreau and Frost are both in fact dark Romantics, though they are often seen as optimistic in their exploration of Nature. Link mentions scholars such as Roberts French along with others to support his argument. The author goes on to discuss the “Extra-vagance” theme when Frost and Thoreau are compared.

Murray, Keat. “Robert Frost’s Portrait of a Modern Mind: The Archetypal Resonance of “Acquainted with the Night”.” Midwest Quarterly 41.4 (2000): 370-384. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

This article discusses the language and techniques that are used by Frost to create a mysterious, even dark, feel to his poetry. Several of Frost’s poems are analyzed, including “Acquainted with the Night” and how night plays an important role in the entire meaning of the poem. The author also draws focus on not only the content in Frost’s poetry, but also the way in which the poem itself is organized and how all of these things play a part in the construction of the work. Murray also examines all of the different elements that Frost uses, such as water and light, and draws a connection between the poems and mythological ideas.

Orr, Matthew. “Is Nature Enough? Robert Frost Replies in “The Most of It”.” Zygon 40.3 (2005): 759-768. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

This scholarly journal article covers a particular poem by Frost, “The Most of It,” and its exploration of whether nature alone is sufficient to satisfy human spiritual yearnings. The article includes a brief history on the making of the poem and Frost’s inspiration toward writing it. Orr describes several misconceptions of the poem and then defines its actual message—whether or not nature is enough is actually in the eye of the beholder. This poem is very well analyzed and investigated and provides some crucial information regarding Frost’s usage of nature.

Perkins, Wendy. “Critical Essay on “Birches”.” Poetry for Students. Ed. Elizabeth Thomason. Vol. 13. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

This essay analyzes the poem “Birches” and examines the way in which Frost uses the natural world to convey larger ideas. There is a brief summary of the poem and then many examples of the use of nature are provided and their metaphorical meanings. This essay is only 1500 words long, but it carries many fundamental and analytical ideas regarding the symbolism in the poetry of Frost. Perkins uses the critical analysis of other critics, as well as her own, within her essay to form the thesis that Frost uses the natural world to raise questions about the nature of human existence.

Stambuk, Andrew. “Learning to Hover: Robert Frost, Robert Francis, and the Poetry of Detached Engagement.” Twentieth Century Literature 45.4 (1999): 534-552. JSTOR. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.

This 20 page article examines the history of Frost and Francis and the emergence of the young writer’s ideas through the mentoring of Robert Frost. Author Andrew Stambuk covers the ideas of both writers, so we get a new perspective from someone who had direct contact with Frost. One major concept that is covered is how both see nature emblematically and read meaning in the things and creatures of the world. Several examples of Francis’s poetry are given, showing how he uses detached engagement and how his style echoes that of Frost’s. One example provided is a poem regarding a hummingbird hovering over a flower and how Francis constructs the poem metaphorically, just as Frost does in his works. The poetry of both these writers are compared in great detail throughout the article.

Urquhart, Thomas. “A Naturalist’s Garden of Verse.” World Literature Today 82.4 (2008): 59. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

This rather short article focuses on “art that delights in the human delight in nature” and meditates on works of numerous authors such as Longfellow, Char, Sassoon, and of course Frost. The author gives a detailed background on why he first became interested in the works of Frost and informs readers that he has just read “Bond and Free” where “nature is a kind of chasuble to adorn human values” and compares the poetry of Frost to a recent newspaper article concerning imprints of ancient amphibians. This is an interesting new outlook on Frost’s nature poetry.

Wakefield, Richard. “Thomas Eakins and Robert Frost: To Be a Natural Man in a Man-Made World.” Midwest Quarterly 41.4 (2000): 354-369. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson).Web. 7 Oct. 2013.

This article takes a slightly different approach to Robert Frost and nature. Wakefield argues that men have turned away from nature, and contends that a lot of Frost’s poetry such as “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” actually has little nature in it and is essentially about self-consciousness and how a man feels in the twilight of self-reliance, turned from nature by the demands of a man-made world. This extensive article provides readers with a lot of significant analyses on the “nature” poetry of Robert Frost, and how it is indeed a lot more than just that. A large bibliography can be found at the end of the article.

Journal of American Folklore

The scholarly Journal of American Folklore (founded in 1888) is currently headed by editors Thomas A. DuBois and James P. Leary of the University of Wisconsin and published quarterly by the University of Illinois Press; the Journal is presently accessible in print to TTU students through the Volpe Library. These print versions are available in bound copies of generally four issues per book, with dates going as far back as 1936. The earliest issue that can be found through the library is from January, 1936, and the most current is from the summer of 2013. Observably, many aspects of the journal have changed over the years; on the other hand, some features have remarkably remained essentially unchanged.

The current editorial board consists of members ranging from the University of Georgia to the University of Winnipeg all the way to the University of California Los Angeles and is equally representative of males and females. The Journal typically contains scholarly articles that present research and theoretical analyses fundamental to the field, with content reflecting a wide range of professional concerns, academic orientations, and communicative modes. Other features such as notes, reviews, and commentaries are directed at a wide variety of audiences—materials reviewed include books, exhibitions, and events, sound recordings, film and videos, websites, and internet media. The Journal also contains polemics that are much narrower in scope and focus on a single issue relating to the field. Located in each issue are short informational sections titled “Notes on Practice” that deal with tasks and responsibilities of folklorists. Commentaries address topics discussed in previous issues of the journal.

Each article in the Summer 2013 edition of the Journal of American Folklore generally ranges between twenty-seven and thirty-two pages and contains a fifty to seventy-five word abstract summarizing essential points and findings. An extensive bibliography can be found at the end of each piece. Located at the bottom of the first page of each article, readers will find a small footnote describing the author– their occupation and which university they attended. The articles are divided up into different sections with corresponding headings to assist with navigation and contain a number of helpful footnotes explaining things within the article such as mentioned ceremonies of a particular culture.

The Journal of American Folklore has undergone significant changes over the past 77 years, even in the past couple of years. Some obvious changes are the members of the editorial board, the editors themselves, and the cost of the Journal. A major difference in newer issues and older ones (such as those from 1936) that I noted was the scope of the journal. In 1936, the first page states that it was designed for the collection and publication of the folklore and mythology of the American Continent, whereas now it contains a lot more content, including the sound reviews and commentaries. These did not exist within the journal in the 1930’s. The contributors for this journal are from a variety of locations, such as California and Indiana, and the articles have expanded in length; the 1936 issues contained several short stories/articles by one author, including “Folk Tales From Shumopovi, Second Mesa” by Wilson Wallis and “Pueblo Indian Folk Tales” by Aurelio Espinosa. There are collections of around 21 to 24 stories in each section, each one containing its own Table of Contents. Newer issues only contain one article from each author and are much longer and academic; some of these articles include “Pinkster: An Atlantic Creole Festival in a Dutch-American Context” from the Summer 2013 issue where author Jeroen Dewulf argues that this festival should be understood in a different context and that the syncretic character did not originate in North America like many have come to believe. Another example of a somewhat recent article from a 1990 issue is “The Sardana: Catalan Dance and Catalan National Identity” by Stanley Brandes, Professor of Anthropology from the University of California. Many of these more recent articles spend a significant amount of space, usually between eighteen and twenty-five pages, covering some sort of cultural tradition. The requirements for potential contributors have remained essentially the same since 1990, but they are much more detailed now than they were in 1936. There was not a length requirement then, so perhaps that is why the articles were a lot shorter. Finally, one last huge change in the Journal that I noted was that initially, there was a dash in the words Folk and lore and that has been deleted in recent years; also, the name has been shortened to JAF when it is being referred to.

In short, the Journal of American Folklore is a useful resource for those wanting to learn more about folklore itself and its history or for scholars looking to research the field and its theoretical orientations.

Works Cited
Benedict, Ruth, ed. “Forty Seventh Annual Meeting of the Amerian Folk-lore Society.” Journal of American Folklore 49.191 (1936): 167-170. Print.

Brandes, Stanley. “The Sardana: Catalan Dance and Catalan National Identity.” Journal of American Folklore 103.407 (1990): 24-42. Print.

Dewulf, Jeroen. “Pinkster: An Atlantic Creole Festival in a Dutch-American Context.” Journal of American Folklore 126.501 (2013): 245-272. Print.

DuBois, Thomas A., and James P. Leary, eds. “Table of Contents.” Journal of American Folklore 126.501 (2013): 243. Print.

Espinosa, Aurelio. “Pueblo Indian Folk Tales.” Journal of American Folklore 49.191 (1936): 69-133. Print.