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Links with reviews
by Carol Mirakove and Brian Barker |
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The
Electronic Poetry Center
Poetics
Program, State University of New York at Buffalo and Loss Glazier.
The user-friendly EPC houses an unparalleled number of poetry links
and online publications with a focus on L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E and experimental
poetry. Especially useful to students is its authors section, which
provides an A-Z listing of hundreds of modern and contemporary poets,
along with their poems, biographies, and essays. Teachers can find
current information on conferences as well as a wide range of syllabi
as designed by scholars including Marjorie Perloff and Charles Bernstein.
Teachers and students benefit from LINEbreak, radio interviews and
performances hosted by Bernstein, which are available in real audio
format. Also of general interest is the archives of UB Poetics, a
listserv established in 1993 for the discussion of avant-garde poetry
and poetics, and announcements of publications and events. In addition
to viewing the archives, users can join the Poetics list through the
EPC. Also housed at the EPC are online journals, abstracts from print
journals and books, visual poems, sound poems, and hundreds of links
to other resources.
ubuweb
visual, concrete, & sound poetry The thoughtful and sleek design of this site makes it a pleasure to explore. Its categories-historical, contemporary, found/insane, sound, resources, papers-make it easy to navigate. As it includes the most comprehensive sampling of concrete poetry on the web, it makes for an excellent introduction to the genre. Includes artworks by 50 historical artists and 45 contemporary artists, audio archives of 29 historical and contemporary artists, and 12 papers on visual, concrete, and sound poetry and poets. Especially impressive is the site's broad international scope. -C. M.
The
Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets. This straight-forward, easy-to-browse site features essays, biographies, audio files, and information about National Poetry Month and other poetry events. Featured exhibits consist of hypertext essays of historical or thematic content with audio files and links to biographical content on poets discussed. "Find a Poet" consists of an ever-growing alphabetized list of poets, complete with biographies and links to other sites. One of the best available features of this site is the "Listening Booth." It contains nearly 100 poets reading their poems alongside the print version; Real Audio 3.0 is used so that no downloading of files is necessary after downloading the plug-in. "Literary Links" includes lists of contests, conferences, exhibits, journals, and literary organizations, by category. "Special Events" includes a calendar searchable by poet, date, region, and/or type of event, and browsers may send a request to submit events. -C. M.
The
International Poetry Hall of Fame Museum Directory The International Poetry Hall of Fame. Associated with The International Library of Poetry, who sponsors North American and International Poetry Competitions awarding over $48,000 to hundreds of poets each year, this site publishes poems thought to have universal appeal by contest editors. While it is impossible to count how many poets are included here, I would guess the total must be over 1,000. The hundreds of poets profiled on the site are reportedly amateurs. As the poets are unknowns, it is difficult to know where to start reading, and it is likely that the average user will have to wade through many poems that she or he does not like for every one that does prove valuable. The most useful aspect of the site is its geographical index of poets, making it possible for users to contact poets in her or his area to possibly develop communal activities and projects. The site also includes a link that directs users to information on how to enter its contests. -C.M.
Glossary
of Poetic Terms
Robert G. Shubinski. This site includes a comprehensive guide to poetics terms, including concise definitions, phonetic pronunciations, examples, and hyper-linked keywords and cross references. This is a thoughtfully designed and user-friendly site; it makes excellent use of hyper links. Convenient and accurate resource for students and teachers. -C.M.
The
Poetry Project The Poetry Project. Allen Ginsberg said, "The Poetry Project burns like red hot coal in New York's snow." This site serves as an apt introduction to New York City's Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church. The user-friendly design directs visitors to the history of the Project, a listing of events, poets and poems, excerpts from their renowned Newsletter, archives of their journal The World, and descriptions of workshops. Teachers of poetry would do well to borrow ideas from the Project's workshops, made famous by Bernadette Mayer among others. -C. M.
Teachers
& Writers Collaborative Teachers & Writers Collaborative. T&W's thoughtfully designed web site provides users with ready access to their teaching resources. T&W is a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding the connections between writing and reading literature. T&W offers workshops for students, and for teachers and administrators. Teachers benefit from the section of the site called WriteNet, a forum for sharing ideas on teaching techniques, making anthologies, bilingual programs, incorporating computers and technology into the curriculum, and more. T&W also boasts a vast publications catalog; I personally vouch for the quality of their guide to Whitman. Typically, a T&W publication includes essays from many teachers and writers on their success with various strategies on teaching, whether the classroom subject is an author or the practice of writing. While most of the publications are geared towards elementary and secondary school, I suggest that university teachers may also gain a great deal from T&W advice, especially those teaching introductory writing and literature courses. -C.M.
The
Internet Poetry Archive
The
Poetry Kit This online journal contains a plethora of information for both amateur and professional poets, such as upcoming competitions, courses, available funding, an international calendar of events, and links and email addresses to a variety of organizations and publishers. However, it should be noted that the majority of the information pertains to Britain and Ireland. The magazine section of the site is published quarterly and contains poetry, articles, book reviews and interviews. The writers featured include well established poets, as well as new voices, and no one style of poetry seems to be favored. Also of general interest are the site's poetry chat room and an email poetry discussion group. -B. B.
The
Mining Co. Poetry Guide The Mining Company This comprehensive guide to poetry on the Internet is most impressive for its extensive catalog of over 400 links. The categoriesósuch as Classical, 19th century, audio archives, and online zines and journals, just to name a fewómake the large number of sites easy to manage. In addition, each link contains a brief review of the site that lies ahead. The 20th century category proves to be a particularly valuable resource; it boasts over 100 links to sites devoted to a diverse array of poets and poetics, covering such subjects as modernism, post-modernism, experimental poetry, new formalism, and hypertext collaborations. In the site's "Features" area, students and teachers will find lively on-site book reviews and essays. Finally, although the site design is thoughtful and the site itself is easy to navigate, individual pages can be extremely slow to load, especially during peak hours. -B. B.
Pause
a Moment: Poetry Jan
Strever. T his site is another ample directory of links worth
exploring. It contains over 100 links to poetry related sites,
such as text and audio archives, criticism, and e-zines. Some of the
links contain a brief description, but none comment on site quality.
The author states, "The impetus of this site was the frustration
of following links that did not deliver what they offered," and
thus, she updates and checks the list monthly. The links are alphabetically
indexed by site name and are searchable.
-B. B. Poet's
Corner Voice
of the Shuttle Voice
of the Shuttle: Web Page for Humanities Resources English Department,
University of California, Santa Barbara. This massive humanities
gateway contains hundreds of links to English literature sites that
range in topic from anglo-saxon and medieval to contemporary British
and American to critical theory to cultural studies. The Poetry Studies
and Creative Writing sections provide over 150 links to text archives,
organizations, resources, databases, and electronic journals. The
Minorities Literature section is particularly impressive and accounts
for 40 links to sites focusing on African American poets, such as
Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Audre Lord. Australian,
Canadian, Caribbean, African, Irish, and Scottish poetry links can
also be found under Other Literature Written in English. Of general
interest to teachers are the150 links to teaching resources, syllabi,
and course descriptions, and students will find this site to be an
indispensable research tool. -B. B. Poets
Online Author
Unknown. Although poets of all ages and abilities may find something
of interest here, this site appears to be aimed at secondary and undergraduate
students and teachers of creative writing. Updated bi-weekly, the
site provides writing prompts, or exercises, on a particular topic
or form. For instance, the prompt for the weeks leading up to February
14, 1999 challenged poets to write a poem using a mythological allusion
in a modern setting. In addition, the site displays a poem as an example
(i.e. for above, prompt Countee Cullen's "Yet Do I Marvel")
and a portrait of the poet. Those interested may add their names to
an email list and receive bi-weekly reminders of new prompts,
as well as submit their poems to be archived on the site. Poets Online
also contains a useful links list with 56 links to sites about contemporary
poets, poetry organizations, and journals and magazines.
-B.
B. Word
& Image
Sonnet
Central
Eric
Blomquist. This handsome site proves useful and entertaining
for connoisseurs of the sonnet, as well as for those seeking to learn
more about the form. Sonnet Central houses hundreds of sonnets, which
are indexed both alphabetically by author and by time period (Early,
Elizabethan, 1615-1780, Romantic, Victorian, WWI, and Early 20th Century).
The archive is also searchable. Those teaching a class or unit on
this form will find the time line, bibliography, and criticism useful.
The criticism includes 5 complete essaysó"Sonnet in England,"
"Elizabethan Sonneteers," "Elizabethan Sonnet,"
"The Sonnet Series," and "The Sonnet"óand excerpts
from 18 pieces of criticism from 1575-1917. Also worth noting is the
site's growing audio archive, and its effort to include sonnet's from
Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and America.
-B. B. Poetry
Daily The Daily Poetry Association. On the home page of this attractive and easy-to-navigate site is a quotation adapted from Billy Collins' Introduction to Poetry: "The urge to ëtie the poem to a chair with rope/ and torture a confession out of it' lessens when poetry arises fresh each day." Thus, each day Poetry Daily spotlights both eminent and less well known contemporary poets. In addition, the site highlights the journal from which the featured poet's poems were taken. Although spreading the love of poetry is a worthy cause, this site's value runs much deeper. In the News and Features section, one finds a wealth of both onsite and linked information, such as a R.T. Smith's four part review of poetry reading and writing books, an audio archive of NPR's All Things Considered interview with poet Henri Cole, and several print interviews with contemporary poets (i.e., Jane Mead, Sharon, Bryan, Robert Bly, Donald Hall, Jane Hirshfield, and David Lehman) All of the featured poems are archived for one year, alphabetically by author's name or poem title. This means there are well over 300 poems by contemporary poets, such as A. R. Ammons, Eavan Boland, Jorie Graham, Eric Pankey, and Charles Wright, making the archive an excellent place to discover new poets or rediscover old favorites. -B. B.
The
Atlantic Unbound: Poetry Pages Wen Stephenson, Editorial Director This online version of The Atlantic Monthly is most impressive for its extensive audio archive. Each week, the Soundings section of the Poetry Pages features a prominent poem by inviting three contemporary poets to lend it their voice. In addition, one poet writes a short introduction to the poem. For instance, for the week of February 3, Maxine Kumin, Donald Hall, and Philip Levine each read Robert Frost's "The Wood-Pile," and Levine provided a short written introduction. In addition, the site contains an audio file of a contemporary poet reading one or several of his or her poems. These are housed in the Audible Anthology, which contains audio archives of 130 poems from over 50 poets. The Atlantic Unbound also prints essays, reviews, and criticism, and contains a text archive of all the poems that have appeared in the magazine's printed publication since 1993. This is a professionally produced site with superb poems and prose. -B. B.
Project
Bartleby Archive University of Columbia, Steven Van Leeuewen, Editor Named after Melville's stubborn scrivener, Project Bartleby has been a growing and dependable text archive since it was established in 1994. The site contains 37 full-length texts available for printing or downloading when used for educational purposes. Approximately half of the texts are poetry or poetry related and include T. S. Eliot's Poetry and Prose (1917-1920), John Keats' Poetical Works (1884), and William Wordsworth's Complete Poetical Works (1888). -B. B.
The
Electronic Text Center: American Poetry Chadwyck-Healey, University of Virginia This massive text archive houses 40,356 poems from 1,288 works by 209 poets up to the year 1900. In addition, the archive contains six "landmark anthologies," including American Poems Selected and Original (1793); Specimens of American Poetry (1829), ed. S. Kettell; American Commonplace Book of Poetry (1831), ed. G. B.Cheever; Selections from the American Poets (1840), ed. W. C. Bryant. Texts may be printed to create hardcopy editions for teaching or research. -B. B.
The
Cortland Review
J.M.
Spalding, Editor Founded in 1997, The Cortland Review is a step ahead
of most electronic journals. This sleek, monthly publication contains
engaging interviews, poetry, fiction, and book reviews. However, what
makes this site unique and not just another print magazine online
is its utilization of technology. Audio clips enhance the feature
interviews throughout by allowing the reader to hear the poet reading
their poem or providing commentary. In addition, the poems and short
stories published include audio files of the authors reading their
work. Full-length editions of the past four issues are archived, as
well as nine earlier interviews with such poets as Robert Pinsky,
Mark Jarman, Mark Doty, and Robert Creeley.
- B. B.
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