Poetry

Poetry Foundation is the website for the Poetry Magazine. The magazine publishing company is located in Chicago, Illinois run by the deputy director of administration,  Krystal Languell. The website makes it easier and faster to find more poems and information about a specific poetry related topic. It allows someone to get more information about Renaissance playwrights and authors as well as authors from other eras like Edgar Allan Poe, D.H. Lawrence, and Layli Long Soldier. Poetry Foundation includes poems, articles, and poets from different cultures and time periods. The websites even makes it easy for someone to find collections of a specific topic. Some of their collections include Poetry and Feminism, Native American Poetry, and Poems of Jewish Faith and Culture. 

The variety of poems include some for all ages. There’s a section where someone can find poems specifically for kids as well as teenagers. The website includes a section for audio poems. People can listen to some poems instead of reading them.  A part of the website is dedicated to learning. They have this section split up into different sections. There’s a section for children, teenagers, adults, educators, and even a glossary of poetry terms. The glossary has definitions of every poetry term which they have organized in alphabetical order. Some of the terms they have are abecedarian, Kenning, and Tanka. 

There’s even a place where someone can get information on how to submit their own work, so they can be featured in the magazine. In order to submit poems, it has to be original work. The website mentions they prefer the poems to be written in English or at least translated to English. They no longer accept paper submissions since July 2013. On this page, they list the steps that a person would need to follow to send their submission.

Works Cited

Languell Krystal. Poetry Foundation. Web Access 10/11/2019. https://www.poetryfoundation.org

The Paris Review

Theparisreview.org is a website affiliated with the quarterly literary magazine The Paris Review. The magazine was founded in Paris by Harold Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton in 1953, but the website didn’t make its debut until 1995. Nadja Spiegelman is the current online editor, though content on the site taken from the magazine would have originally been under its own editor, Emily Nemens. The site, geared towards enticing the reader to purchase a subscription to the magazine, offers limited access to the archived content on the website. Despite this, an abundance of free content can be accessed by anyone.

The homepage of theparisreview.org contains a mix of both free content and previews of content behind a paywall, though a section titled “The Daily” consists of daily articles that are available for free. The Daily began on June 1st 2010 with a letter from the editor stating the purpose of the daily posts were to keep readers engaged in-between issues of The Paris Review. All posts on The Daily since its inception are accessible and cover vastly different topics, from an article praising Peanuts cartoons to a recounting of an attempt to recreate Italian dishes mentioned in the novel The Leopard.

The site also features submitted fiction, poetry, interviews, and art/photography. While access to all of these requires a subscription, one work is featured daily in each category and can be freely viewed. Podcasts featuring interviews with writers and readings of their works are available, though the podcast is still somewhat new with only two available seasons. A video section links to the organization’s YouTube channel, which offers a few dozen relatively short videos. The majority of these videos feature authors discussing their first publication.

Works Cited

The Paris Review, https://www.theparisreview.org/. 2019.

Poets.org

Poets.org is a website created in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, a nonprofit organization founded by Marie Bullock in 1934. It is funded in part by individual contributions and members, as well as government programs, private foundations, and corporations. Though Poets.org is run by President and Executive Director Jennifer Benka, a Board of Chancellors consults with the staff on creative matters and a Board of Directors oversees finances, programs, and plans for the future. While the Chancellors are exclusively poets, the Board of Directors consists of an eclectic collection of more executive occupations. The website offers a catalogue of poems, teaching materials, backgrounds on poets, local events, and literary job listings. The entirety of this information is available for free, unobstructed by advertisements, on their website.

Most prominently presented on the site is the poem-a-day service in which one may sign up and be emailed a selected poem everyday. The daily poem is displayed on the site’s homepage and includes a picture of the author along with a direct quote from them regarding the poem. The homepage also contains links to their collection of over 11,000 poems, ranging from Ralph Waldo Emerson to poets such as Gary Jackson who are still writing to this day. Information on the authors of these archived works is easily accessible through their archive of over 3,000 poets, though the amount available can vary wildly from poet to poet depending on their perceived status or tenure as a writer. Joy Harjo, one of the aforementioned chancellors on the site, has several paragraphs listing her accolades while details on Ashley Toliver are limited to two sentences.

Poets.org also offers more practical content in the form of lesson plans and suggested poems for teachers as well as a consistently updated list of literary and arts jobs that may be of interest to English majors. Though the site does include “poetry near you” events, the vast majority of the events listed are located in more densely populated areas, especially New York. The Academy of American Poets subsection of the website, somewhat hidden at the bottom of the homepage, links to programs, prizes, and awards offered by the site’s governing organization.

Works Cited

Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, 2019, https://poets.org/.

Poet Assistant

Kathryn Holeton

Poet Assistant was created in 2016 by Carmen Alvarez (Google Play). The application assists poets with writing poetry by providing an accessible and easy to use ‘Dictionary’, ‘Rhymer’, a ‘Thesaurus’, and a ‘Random Word’ generator. A Desktop version of this application is not available at this time but, it is available on Android and Apple devices and its version number is v1.30.0. This application was made to be serviceable to its users by providing a dictionary, thesaurus, and a tool that rhymes words in one place. Poet Assistant provides free access to all of its functions and there are no advertisements in this application. This application contains a ‘Dictionary,’ ‘Thesaurus,’ ‘Rhymer,’ ‘Composer,’ and ‘Favorites’ function. The ‘Favorites’ tool allows the user to save words that they liked for later. The ‘Composer’ tool permits the user to type their piece of written literature, and the ‘Composer’ will read aloud what was typed. The ‘Rhymer’ feature searches for words that rhyme with the word in the search engine. The ‘Thesaurus’ function searches for synonyms and antonyms related to the desired word. The ‘Dictionary’ tool finds the definition of the word that was typed in the search engine. The ‘Thesaurus’ and ‘Rhymer’ tools, the definitions of the word are provided. Poet Assistant also has a ‘Random Word’ generator, which finds a random word for the user (Alvarez).

            In the settings drop down, there are four categories, ‘Theme,’ ‘Layout,’ ‘User Data,’ and ‘Voice.’ In the ‘Theme’ category, the user can change the color theme of the application from ‘Light,’ ‘Dark’ or ‘Auto.’ The ‘Layout’ function allows the user to change the layout to ‘Clean’ or ‘Efficient.’ The ‘User Data’ category lets the user to import or export favorite words from Poet Assistant to other applications and devices. The ‘Voice’ section allows the user to change the pitch and speed of the voice that is part of the ‘Composer.’ The search history can also be cleared in this category. The application also has a ‘Share’ feature which allows the user to send information from Poet Assistant to any other application that accepts files from Poet Assistant (Alvarez).

Works Cited

Alvarez, Carmen. Poet Assistant. Carmen Alvarez, 2016. v1.30.0. Google Play,                 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.rmen.android.poetassistant&hl=en_U  S.

“Poet Assistant (English).” Google Play, Google, 2019, Accessed 30 Oct. 2019.

Religion and Paradise Lost: An Annotated Bibliography

Who doesn’t get excited about a war between heaven and hell? Satan, and all his boys, versus God, and all his angels, I smell apocalypse. O sorry, it’s just Paradise Lost, but what’s not exciting about Milton’s epic? The creation of the world, battle between heaven and hell, Satan running around doing his evil thing, the fortunate fall of man, and an omnipotent but not an all creating God; it’s literary magic. Since the 17^th century religion in Milton’s signature epic has been dissected time and time again.

Why are critics so focused on this epic poem and its religious qualities? Aren’t we all tired of hearing about God beating Satan and man’s fortunate fall? The answer is emphatically no. Critics have flocked to religion in Paradise Lost because of the staggering amount of critical possibilities the work presents in regards to religion. The concept of the trinity, the fortunate fall, the religious language used, the concept of God, the concept of Satan as a hero, and Milton’s own theorized religious outlook on the world is only the tip of the iceberg. Religion in Paradise Lost is like a literary Grand Canyon, people don’t appreciate the unequaled beauty and depth of it until it’s seen.

The following selective annotated bibliography contains a wide variety of sources pertaining to religion in Paradise Lost. All fifteen sources are from either accredited academic journals or websites hosted by extremely respected universities. Sources examine Milton’s own religious context and how it impacted the work, the paradox of the fortunate fall, the morality of the text, how Milton’s epic can be viewed as a warning to British citizens looking to colonize America, “otherness” in the text, God’s will, the concept of Biblical hero’s, and chaos theory and how it relates to the text to name a few.

Every article cited has been published within the last 85 years. The goal of the project is to show how a fraction of the amount of information available on this subject. Each article, except for the background information on Milton’s life and religious practices, involves a different aspect of religion in the epic. Some of them are similar, but they are all unique.

College students, scholars, and teachers may use this bibliography in a variety of ways. Obviously, by itself the document serves as an excellent overview of religion in Milton’s greatest work. It may also be used by high school students in order to comprehend some more difficult aspects of the epic.

Anderson, Jarod K. “The Decentralization of Morality in Paradise Lost.” Rocky Mountain Review64.2 (2010): 198-204. JSTOR. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Anderson’s article deals with “otherness” in Paradise Lost. He suggests that the moral struggle in the epic centers on Milton’s need to uphold the authority of God while simultaneously legitimizing opposition to the will of God. Otherness is the Night and Chaos, two entities that are older than God and therefore outside of his creation and not answerable to him. Anderson argues that framing God’s created universe in a larger uncreated narrative universe allows the reader the reader to uphold or abandon Milton’s defense of God’s will, which is relative, and allows Milton the right context to defend His will. Article is eight pages long with notes and can be accessed online through the Tech Library Journal Database.

Conlan, J.P. “Paradise Lost: Milton’s Anti-Imperial Epic.” Pacific Coast Philology 33.1(1998): 31-43. JSTOR. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.

Conlan’s journal article deals with Milton’s feelings towards the colonization of America and how the religious writings of Paradise Lost contain an anti-colonial message. Conlan begins coins the term “nautical piety,” explorers who reached new lands were “blessed by God,” and shows it’s evolution through sermons delivered to sailors from the 16^th-18^th century. Conlan argues Satan’s journey to exterminate heaven in Paradise Lost is in direct correlation with British citizens determined to imperialize the colonies. In the end God had already judged his motives and doomed his future behavior and casts Satan down, this is Milton’s message to the colonies. Article is fourteen pages long complete with notes and is accessed online through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Dunnum, Eric. “The Bipartite System of Laws in Paradise Lost.” Rocky Mountain Review 64.2(2010): 151-69. JSTOR. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Dunnum’s journal article blames the fall of man on God’s bipartite system. Dunnum explains the system as the Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) and the Repressive State Apparatus (RSA) or internal and external laws. Dunnum suggest that God’s only external law was not to eat of the tree of knowledge, and that there are many more internal laws which are understood through the gifts of freedom and reason. The crux of Dunnum’s argument is God’s bipartite system conflicts with itself and the collapse of laws leads to the fall of man. Article is twenty pages long with notes and can be accessed through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Fallon, Samuel. “Milton’s Strange God: Theology and Narrative Form in Paradise Lost.” ELH79.1 (2012): 33-57. Project Muse. Johns Hopkins University Press. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

Fallon’s article deals with how John Milton’s Paradise Lost deals with a timeless, all knowing god who makes his will known to his creations who are not timeless and extremely fallible. Fallon juxtaposes the communication between god and man in Paradise Lost Milton’s De Doctrina Christiana. He highlights the god Christ relationship, the “strange” father, and the relationship with angels. The article is twenty-two pages long on its own, twenty-six pages with notes. The notes are extremely helpful in understanding old religious terms. Article is accessed online through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Fletcher, Katherine. “A Biography of John Milton, 1608-1674.” Darkness Visible. Christ’sCollege, 2008. Web. 03 Oct. 2013.

Fletcher’s scholarly Milton online biography is important because it documents Milton’s protestant beliefs which are crucial to understanding the religion in Paradise Lost . All of Milton’s life is represented in the article under specific sub titles such as university years, republicanism, and Paradise Lost. The biography also documents Milton’s rise and fall during the commonwealth. The article ends with references to much more in depth biographies concerning Milton’s entire life in extremely minute detail. Article is accessed through Cambridge’s Paradise Lost website under the biography tab.

Herman, William R. “Heroism and Paradise Lost.” College English 21.1 (1959): 13-17. JSTOR.Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Herman’s article juxtaposes the Hellenic (pagan) and Biblical (Christian) hero. Herman begins the article by comparing David (Biblical) to Ajax (pagan) and defining the each type of hero. Herman goes onto classify each major character from the epic into the correct category, only Adam and Eve fall into both categories. Herman proposes that the Hellenistic reader will be disappointed with the overall ending of the epic because after eight books of increasing climax, humanity falls under trivial circumstances when Adam and Eve succumb to temptation, but biblical (religious) oriented readers understand the trivial circumstances and are aware that the fall of man is “fortunate.” The article is extremely easy to read and is only six pages long and has no notes. Article can be accessed through the Tech Library Journal Database.

Kerr, Jason A. “Prophesying the Bible: The Improvisation of Scripture in Books 11 and 12 of

Paradise Lost.” Milton Quarterly 47.1 (2013): 13-33. Wiley Online Library. Web. 16 Oct.2013.

Kerr’s article argues that Milton, through poetic displacement, saw Paradise Lost as a precursor to the Bible. Kerr argues that this way of looking at the poem in this way opens new ways to interpret it, specifically the relationship between Michael and Adam and the chosen scripture for books 11 and 12. The article is obsessed with looking at Adam’s ability to quote scripture before it has even been written. The article is twenty-one pages long and contains helpful notes. Article is accessed online through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Lovejoy, A. O. “Milton, and the Paradox of the Fortunate Fall.” ELH 4th ser. 4.3 (1937): 161+. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

Lovejoy’s eighteen page journal article has been considered to be the best explanation of the fortunate fall since 1937. The article explains how the fall was necessary in order for man’s redemption through God. Lovejoy explains the differences between Milton’s fortunate fall and the poets Du Bartas and Giles Fletcher’s fortunate fall, two poets that used the fall in their works before Milton. The article contains examples of protestant and catholic interpretations of the fortunate fall from the 4^th– 17^th centuries. Notes are published with the article. Article is accessed online through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Merrill, Thomas F. “Milton’s Satanic Parable.” ELH 50.2 (1983): 279-95. JSTOR. Web. 23 Oct.2013.

Merrill’s journal article focuses on the religious language that Satan uses when he speaks in Paradise Lost. Merrill argues that the religious language in Paradise Lost is not typical because Satan, instead of God, is “… functions as an instrument of divine insight by providing Christian readers with parabolic awareness of God’s presence. Merrill walks the reader through the idea of “logical docetism,” goes onto reveal the parable as the ultimate literary vehicle through which divine and human values can be simultaneously exposed, and then examines a select number of Satan’s speeches that proves his textual value in finding God’s presence. Article is eighteen pages long and filled with useful endnotes. Article accessed online through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Parish, John E. “Milton and an Anthropomorphic God.” Studies in Philology 56.4 (1959): 619-25. JSTOR. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Parish’s journal article presents Milton struggling with three passages from the Old Testament. Abraham and Moses seem to convince God not to destroy an entire race of people and appeal to his sense of mercy. Milton knew no man could convince God to change his mind, it was all part of his divine plan. Milton creates two scenes in Paradise Lost that are extremely similar to these events. Christ appeals to God not to destroy humanity and uses the same rhetoric Abraham did, while Adam appeals to God for a mate, and God is pleased with Adam in Book 8 for stepping up. Article is 8 pages long with footnotes and can be accessed through Tech Library Journal Database.

Parry, David. “Milton and the Bible.” Darkness Visible. Christ’s College, 2008. Web. 24 Oct.2013.

Parry’s online article gives basic, easy to understand information on how Milton used the Bible in Paradise Lost. Parry explains that in Milton’s day the Bible was used to explain complex problems. Milton himself used the Bible to explain his views on divorce and campaign against corrupt members of the church. The website is divided into four tabs: creation, fall, redemption, consummation. Each tab gives an example of Biblical scripture and then gives an example of how Milton used the scripture in Paradise Lost.  This website is Cambridge’s Paradise Lost study guide and can be accessed at darknessvisible.uk

Parry, David. “Milton’s Religious Context.” Darkness Visible. Christ’s College, 2008. Web. 24Oct. 2013.

Parry’s article is ridiculously easy to read and is extremely forthcoming with basic, yet crucial, ideas concerning the religious context of Milton’s own time and Paradise Lost. The Reformation tab starts with Martin Luther, moves to Henry VIII and the beginning of the Church of England, swaps back to Queen Mary, and ends with protestant Queen Elizabeth. The Puritan tab is extremely helpful because it informs the reader of Milton’s extremely protestant education at Cambridge. Milton’s own religion is somewhat hard to deduce but Parry asserts that Milton was most certainly a Protestant who held controversial beliefs on divorce and probably was sympathetic to Arminianism, Protestants who believed in human free will instead of God reigning over all. This website is Cambridge’s Paradise Lost study guide and can be accessed at darknessvisible.uk

Pecheux, Mary C. “The Second Adam and the Church in Paradise Lost.” ELH 34.2 (1967): 173-87. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

Pechuex’s article deals with an anagogical trinity that stems from Paradise Lost. Pecueux gives scriptural evidence from the Bible and also from Paradise Lost that shows the reader the anagogical trinity is the second Adam, Eve, and the new church. Pechuex’s argues that Milton uses traditional imagery of the Christian wife, from Tertullian and St. Augustine, in juxtaposition with the second trinity in Paradise Lost, Satan, sin, and death, to explain the fourth trinity. This article is sixteen pages long and is loaded with footnotes that help the reader. Article is accessed online through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

Rumrich, John. “Milton’s God and the Matter of Chaos.” PMLA 110.5 (1995): 1035-046. JSTOR.Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Rumrich’s journal article delves into twentieth century chaos theory concerning Chaos, as a character, in Paradise Lost. Article looks at the Babylonian epic Enuma elish to prove that Chaos, from a religious perspective, has always been despised by pre-twentieth century theologians of all religions. Rumrich rightly suggests that Milton foresaw Chaos as something that can create (or “divine”) and quotes book 7 proving that Chaos is boundless and infinite because God fills it. Rumrich suggests that Chaos is to God as Eve is to Adam. Article is thirteen pages long, including notes, and can be accessed through the Tennessee Tech Library Journal Database.

Smith, Russell E. “Adam’s Fall.” ELH 35.4 (1968): 527-39. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

Smith’s twelve page journal article focuses on Adam’s “fall up” instead of the traditional “fall down.” Smith focuses on Adam’s curiosity while questioning Raphael in Book V. Smith argues that Adam “fell up” because he saw he was to Raphael as Eve was to him, that is to say less than equal. This is a crucial interpretation of the fall when looking at the paradox along with it. Notes are published along with the article. Article is twelve pages long and is accessed online through the Tech Library Electronic Journal Database.

The Role of Imagination and Reality in Wallace Stevens Poetry: A Selected Annotated Bibliography

No thought has intercepted and stimulated human cognition perhaps as much as the thought of reality. Why are we here, and more, what is “here?” What is the reality that we find ourselves in, and is this reality unique to each of us, or somehow independent of our perceptions of it? Wallace Stevens grappled with these questions his whole life through the interplay between imagination and reality and spent a lifetime of poetry on the exploration into the nature of the truth we create and what that creation says about the world.

Stevens’ poetry challenges us to examine the world with a fresh new eyes that reveal that perhaps the beauty we seek is already here for us to create, if we only have an outlet that allows its creation. For Stevens it was poetry, and he used it as a channel for his unique ideas and concepts of the world. There is a relevant aspect to the now in Stevens’ idea that the world is a supreme fiction that we invent and consider good or bad as it places an emphasis on life and how we should imagine our own reality.

The following selective annotated bibliography includes a wide variety of sources on the topic of imagination and reality used in Stevens’ poetry. Works in this collection examine the nature of reality; the importance and function of imagination; the poetic trinity of Stevens, the historical background of Stevens’ life; the impact of war and politics on Steven’s poetry, and the relationship between God, reality, and imagination.

Students, scholars, and teachers may use this bibliography in several ways. It may be used as a document for future scholarship or a guide to valuable criticism. In conclusion, 15 sources have been provided below to spark leads and research on Stevens’ greatest contribution to literature, the use and practice of imagination and reality in the human mind.

The Role of Imagination and Reality in Wallace Stevens Poetry: A Selected Annotated Bibliography

McConnell, Frank. “Understanding Wallace Stevens.” The Wilson Quarterly. Vol.8, No.3 (1984):160-169. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

McConnell explores the life and works of Wallace Stevens. Several Poems are briefly analyzed such as, “The Snow Man,” “Poetry Is a Destructive Force,” “Notes toward a Supreme Fiction,” and “Esthétique du mal.” McConnell addresses, through comparisons of thinkers such as Nietzsche, Voltaire, and Freud, Stevens’ stance on God and the relationship God has with reality. This source also discusses Steven’s use of the supreme fiction, the importance of the imagination in creating it, and the relationship the creation shares with reality.

Vendler, Helen. “Wallace Stevens: Hypotheses and Contradictions.” Representations.

Vol.81, No.1 (2003): 99-117. JSTOR. Web. 30  Sept. 2013.

Vendler details the role of the contradictory nature of the hypothesis proposed in Stevens’ writing. Vendler examines poems such as “The Idea of Order at Key West,” “The Man with the Blue Guitar,” and “The Region November.” He explains Wallace Steven’s writing form and how it reflects a Nietzschean multiplicity or cubist variety of perspectives, and then also attempts to define a singular truth. This source also discusses Stevens’ stance that every creation of the mind can be abolished in death because when we die so do dies our capacity to imagine and create reality.

Pearce, Roy. “Wallace Stevens: The Life of Imagination.” PMLA. Vol.66, No. 5 (1951): 561-582. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013

Pearce delves into Stevens’ form and function of the concept of imagination and its relationship with reality. He analyzes collections as a whole, which include Harmonium, and Transport to summer, to name a couple.  Page 561 list important footnotes on the details of outside sources used for this article. Pearce analyses a substantial portion of Steven’s work and compares and contrasts specific poems and collections. These comparisons and contrasts principally deal with Stevens’ thoughts on man’s role in imagining and the true reality man can expect to discover when doing so.

Altieri, Charles. “Aspect-Seeing and Stevens’ Ideal of Ordinary Experience.” Wallace Stevens Journal. Vol. 36, No.1 (Spring 2012): 78-90. Project MUSE. Web. 30 Sept. 2013

In this article, Altieri addresses the idea that poetry of the everyday, or that appeals to ordinary reality, is represented in Steven’s writings. Alrieri also refers several times to the criticisms of Stevens by the literary critic Siobhan Phillips. The article analyzes the poems, “An Ordinary Evening in New Haven,” “The Rock,” and “The World as Meditation.” This source goes into detail about how Stevens’ says the human mind constructs the everyday, or in other words, the reality that is experienced. Altieri makes an important claim in this article stating, “That the imagination is an everyday power is perhaps Stevens’ greatest contribution to poetry.”

Olsen, Elder. “The Poetry of Wallace Stevens.” College English. Vol. 16, No. 7 (Apr.,1955): 395-402. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

Elder examines the use of the imagination in Steven’s poetry as a consequential combination of images and emotion. Elder explores the idea that the images that we create when we read Stevens’ poetry are more complex and full than the poetry is itself. The source looks at the poems, ”Life is motion,” “The Emperor of Ice Cream,” and “Study of Two Pears.” Elder points out that Stevens’ poems give us a capacity to imagine primarily through our intellect and emotion. He contends that the imagination is steered to a certain course by Stevens, but one that can take a variety of shapes through our various imaginations.

Riddel, Joesph. “Wallace Stevens’ ‘Notes toward a supreme fiction.’” Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature.Vol. 2, No.2 (1961): 20-42. JSTOR. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

Riddel analyzes Stevens’ collection Harmonium referencing numerous poems such as “The Grand Poem,” “The Comedian as the Letter C,” and “Sunday Morning.” The source mainly focuses on what Riddel says is Stevens’ “central piece in his canon,” which is the poem “Notes toward a Supreme Fiction.” Stevens is analyzed as a poet who is considered self-consciously reflective and in constant concentration on the reality of thoughts, ideas, and theories. The article compares Stevens to writers such as T.S Eliot, William Carlos Willaims, and Robert Frost. Generally, Riddel addresses how for Stevens, poetry was the single source of truth; the reality; a supreme fiction that was on a constant journey of trying to find resolution in the world.

Beckett, Lucy. Wallace Stevens. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1974. Print

In this 216 page book Beckett uses an array of quotations from Stevens’ Opus Posthumous, The Necessary Angel, and Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens. She also combines Stevens’ concept and ideas with comparative analysis of other prominent writers and philosophers including Ezra Pound, John Keats, and T.S Eliot. 23 pages are dedicated to “Imagination as Value,” and 11 to “The Pressure of Reality.”Finally Stevens’ value as a modern poet is looked at and is said not to be exposed through his conclusions, but instead through the affirmation of the value of the individual soul.

Longenbach, James. Wallace Stevens, The Plain Sense of Things. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print.

A result of an effort of extensive research made possible by a fellowship provided by the National Endowment for the humanities, this book uses the historical events that surrounded Stevens to provide a background with which to study his work. A great amount of time is given to the idea that ideological debates were an influential part of Stevens’ career as a poet.  These debates included American liberalism, the rise of communism, the rights of women, and the pressures of nationalism.  Also in this book, the relationship of Stevens’ poetry to war, politics, and social change in the 20^th century is examined.

Fuchs, Daniel. The Comic spirit of Wallace Stevens. Durham, N.C: Duke University Press, 1963. Print.

This is an interpretive study and evaluation of the comic tendencies of Wallace Stevens. The method used by Fuchs is exegesis with an exception of the 1^st chapter which is mainly cultural history. Stevens is studied not as a craftsman, but as a mind and a cultural performer. The scholarship follows thematically rather than chronologically. Chapter titles include “The comedian as the letter C,” “Stevens’ Comic Milieu,” and “The Ultimate Plato.”Fuchs believes Stevens’ comic spirit is central and without a sense of it there is no understanding Stevens.

Morris, Adalaide. Wallace Stevens: Imagination and Faith. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974. Print.

Adalaide points her critical microscope at the centrality of what Stevens’ thoughts on imagination imply about his religious beliefs. There are only 4 chapters in the book with titles “Lineage and Language: Stevens’ Religious Heritage,” “The Deaf mute Church and the Chapel of Breath,” “A Mystical Theology: Stevens’ Poetic trinity,” and “How to live, what to do.” These chapters subsequently define Stevens’ ideas that imagination and God are interchangeable and therefore perfection, harmony, or paradise exists somewhere in the equilibrium of reality and imagination seeking complete shelter in neither.

Doggett, Frank. Stevens’ Poetry of thought. Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, 1966.Print.

Stevens is looked at as a poet of thought whose work as a poet is comparable to that of a philosopher in its requisite of spontaneous imaginative insight. Hit poetic thoughts then, are considered “triumphs of imagination.” Concepts of poetry, through the criticism of various works of Stevens including Harmonium, are said to reflect concepts of philosophy in their exploration of the nature of reality. Chapter titles include, “The Invented World,””You and the Shapes you take,” and “The Poetry of thought.”

Kessler, Edward. Images of Wallace Stevens. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1972. Print.

This 250 page book is dedicated to exploring the images Stevens employs in his poetry. The ideas of imagination and reality with which Stevens navigates is said to be ultimately determined by the images he provides. Kessler studies Stevens’ imagery with hopes that his analysis will aid in the establishment of the Stevens Canon. Kessler mentions the “imagination-reality opposition” Stevens provides is the underlying idea of all of Stevens’ work.

Sukenick, Ronald. Wallace Stevens: Musing the Obscure. New York: New York University Press, 1967. Print.

Sukenick splits this book into 3 distinct parts: 1) Wallace Stevens: Theory and Practice, 2) Readings, and 3) A Guide to Stevens’ Collected Poetry. The 1^st part looks into the concepts and ideas of Stevens with subtitles that include, “The Reality of Imagination,” “The Function of Imagination,” and “The Fiction.” Part II individually analyzes 47 of Stevens’ poem, taking up 167 of the 233 page book. Part III is a guide that covers the collected poems, plus all the poems that are of importance to Sukenick, as he refers to them or paraphrases them in the body of this book.

Morse, Samuel French. Wallace Stevens Poetry as Life. New York: Western Publishing

Company, Inc., 1970. Print.

Morse attempts to detail the relationship between Wallace Stevens’ life and his poetry. Stevens is autobiographically examined with numerous examples arranged chronologically starting with Stevens’ early years, moving to his days as a Harvard undergrad and graduate student, then to his time as an insurance executive. Morse takes you on a historical journey all the while simultaneously reviewing Stevens’ poetry as written during these periods of time. This book also contains vast amounts of Stevens’ personal information as well as plenty of information on imagination and reality.

Axelrod, Steven Gould. Critical Essays on Wallace Stevens. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co.,1988. Print.

Reviews and Essays are provided in this highly collaborative source that provides extensive information on theory and criticism pertaining to Wallace Stevens’ Poetry. This volume is part of a series that seeks to anthologize the most important criticism on a wide variety of topics and writers in American Literature. This volume also contains a balanced historical record of critical reception to Stevens. Both early reviews and recent scholarship are provided from over 25 scholarly critics.

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.