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Archive: January 2015 (5 Posts)

The word

Teacher’s Corner: Using Poetry to Teach the Importance of Word Choice

Posted by: Peter Armenti

The following guest post, part of our “Teacher’s Corner” series, is by Rebecca Newland, Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress. In my high school English classroom, we studied not only literature, but also writing. Students usually came to me competent in the fundamentals of persuasive and expository composition, but they gave little thought …

The word

Edgar Allan Poe and “The Raven”

Posted by: Peter Armenti

The following guest post is by Amber Paranick, a librarian in the Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room. Today, January 19th, we celebrate the 206th birthday of Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was an American writer, poet, and critic during the romantic era and is perhaps best known for his stories of mystery and horror. He …

The word

Start the New Year with a Poem a Day

Posted by: Peter Armenti

We’re barely two weeks into 2015, which means that most of us are still committed to following through on any New Year’s resolutions we made, no matter how Sisyphean they are starting to appear. While our wills remain strong, I propose adding an enjoyable resolution to our lists—let’s all try to read a poem a …

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Muriel Rukeyser and the Spanish Civil War

Posted by: Robert Casper

The following is a cross-post from the Insights: Scholarly Work at the John W. Kluge Center, from Program Specialist Jason Steinhauer. Poet and biographer Muriel Rukeyser documented and commented on the seismic events of the 20th century. In her five decades of writing, she captured her experiences as witness to racial inequality in America, the …

The word

Remembering Our Friends

Posted by: Robert Casper

Last week, to mark the end of 2014, I wrote about the passing of two Poets Laureate. This week I’d like to look ahead to the year-to-come–specifically, to our growing community of friends. To do this, I have to turn to the past. The Poetry and Literature Center, and the Poet Laureate position, would not …