Edgar Allan Poe's life was plagued by melancholy and disaster, which is evident in all of his writings. Among the many other poets of his generation, his solitude and individuality set him apart from the rest. He gave the Gothic genre a completely new meaning, making it both dark and significant at the same time. First, as an overview is given, of…

Looking through the eyes of Persian culture, we see that man is not all noetic; he is not driven by intellect or consistent in his use of reason. On the contrary, he is most moved by emotion. A perfect example: Persian philosophy is most commonly uttered in both poetry and prose. This is, I believe, where the brilliance of Persians rests, in the…

Background/Context: Throughout history, a country's economic and military strength has influenced its times of cultural splendor and the rise of famous intellectuals and artists. Spain has been an exception to this. At the turn of the 20th century, a surprising series of events that no one could have predicted occurred. At the time, Spain had…

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Asia's first Nobel laureate, was a man of myriad gifts, but he sought to articulate a single global vision. He believed that for our flourishing we must strive towards "the other and the beyond". In so doing we discover that, as we seek, we are ourselves being sought. Tagore believed that we find our…

Two months before he died, John Keats claimed he had been poisoned. Although most scholars and biographers have attributed Keats's fears of persecution, betrayal, and murder to consumptive dementia, Keats's suspicions had begun long before 1820 and were not without some justification. In this article, the author talks about the death of John…

Biography is a hybrid. It is history crossed with narrative. The biographer has to present the available facts of the life yet shape their arbitrariness, untidiness, and incompleteness into an engaging whole. The readerly appeal lies in the prospect both of gaining documentary information, scrupulously researched and plausibly interpreted, and of…

As U.K. school exam results continue to rise, perennial accusations appear in the media of the "dumbing down" of the curriculum and of employers' complaints about school leavers' lack of basic literacy skills. In this context, Andrew Motion, the poet laureate, has raised questions about how to provide an inspiring English curriculum, the…

Profiles the poet Arnold Adoff: his life, influences, theoretical underpinnings of his work (balance, integration and utility), and the work itself. (SR)

Claiming to have developed a new conceptualization of creative phenomena, Howard Gardner has rounded up the usual biographical suspects in his new book "Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi" (Basic Books, 1993). Gardner doesn't successfully…

A summary/survey of the books of Thomas Merton is provided. (Author)

This article describes poet and writer David L. Harrison. A former School Board Chairman from Springfield, MO, David was responsible for beginning an annual "Teacher Appreciation Banquet" and for launching the "Sky High for Reading" program. The "Sky High for Reading" program encourages children in Springfield to read enough books so that, if…

This article starts with the view that most poets believe that poetry should be understandable and accessible to everyone. The article then introduces the poetry and ideas of Ted Kooser, a famous poet born in Iowa. Following the stories of Ted Kooser, the article introduces what a poet laureate is, how long they serve, how they are chosen, how…

Biographical essay about the Chilean poet to whom the Nobel Prize for literature was awarded in 1945. A list of her recommendations for reform and innovation in Chile's educational program. (VW)

A distinguished poet becomes a very specialized librarian this month. William E. Stafford, professor of English at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon, has been appointed Consultant in Poetry in English to the Library of Congress for the 1970-71 term. (Author)

Examines Robert Frost's teaching career, which lasted from 1893 to 1912. Discusses his extreme dislike of teaching, resulting in nervous exhaustion on several occasions, and his teaching innovations, which involved students writing about their own experiences and ideas, and reading aloud for expression and the sound of language. (SV)