The following guest post is by Caroline Harris, a summer 2017 intern in the Poetry and Literature Center. I wrote my first poem on the second day of sixth grade. It was called “Ode to an Artichoke.” In rhyming couplets, I praised every aspect of my favorite vegetable. No stranger to hyperbole, I labeled artichokes …
The following post was written by Rob Casper, head of the Poetry and Literature Center. Though our spring season is officially over, much is still going on at the Poetry and Literature Center. We are looking forward to announcing the next Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry in a couple of weeks—to that end, last week …
The following guest post, part of our “Teacher’s Corner” series, is by Rebecca Newland, a Fairfax County Public Schools Librarian and former Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress. One possible way to engage students with poetry is to explore poems that have been set to music. Consider collaborating with music teachers in your …
The following is a guest post by Mark F. Hall, a research specialist with the Library of Congress’s Digital Reference Team. Over Memorial Day weekend, Captain Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp) and the latest installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise will sail into theaters across the country. While the storyline, special effects, …
The following guest post is by Phebe Miner, a summer 2017 intern in the Poetry and Literature Center. I need books like I need air. The starchy, full scent of pages and spines is pure oxygen to me. The calmest place I know is in a library’s stacks: endless new words in neat black and …
Two weeks have passed since Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera‘s whirlwind day-long celebration, “Speak the People/the Spark/el Poema,” marking the end of his second term. I don’t know about you, but my head is still swirling and swimming from the festivities, and I keep catching myself humming tunes like “Ms. United States” and “Pillow People” …
The following guest post, part of our “Teacher’s Corner” series, is by Rebecca Newland, a Fairfax County Public Schools Librarian and former Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress. In our up-to-the-minute society, we receive news almost as soon as it happens. For this reason students who engage with social media often have interest …
The following is a guest post by Anastasia Nikolis, a graduate student intern in the Poetry and Literature Center and a PhD candidate in the English department at the University of Rochester. Somehow it is the last week of April, which means it is the last week of National Poetry Month, and the end of …
National Poetry Month is a big deal here at the Poetry and Literature Center. While we always feature poetry programs in April (including our Bobbitt Prize reading and Poet Laureate Final Event, this week and next respectively), this year I’m happy to report we also have new online content. We’ve added to our wonderful “Poetry …