American Poems Every Student Should Know

Emma Taylor, a writer for Accredited Online Colleges, sent us the link to a recent post featured on her site's blog, an article titled 20 American Poems Every Student Should Know. From Edgar Allan Poe to Saul Williams, and including names such as Emily Dickinson, William Carlos Williams and Charles Bukowski, this selection is witty, diverse and fun to read, and of course carries a disclaimer: "the entirety of the American poetry scene can’t be distilled into only 20 works", stating also that "this happens to be one writer’s opinion of a few worth exploring".


Read the complete list of poems here:

20 American Poems Every Student Should Know (accreditedonlinecolleges.com)

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American Poetry 101: Emily Dickinson

"I started Early -- Took my Dog --
And visited the Sea --
The Mermaids in the Basement
Came out to look at me --"

Poem 520, excerpt


"I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us--don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know"

Poem 260, excerpt


Emily Dickinson (Amherst, MA, 1830-1886)



* * *

"The one power Dickinson trusted was the power of language, which she loved (...) By her own account she experienced an acute physical reaction to words, a euphoric shock. I know exactly what she meant, because her poetry has that effect. Ambush is its strategy. It knocks the breath out of you and leaves you giddy, like a nanosecond-long roller coaster ride."

Holland Cotter, excerpt from ‘My Hero, the Outlaw of Amherst’, published in the Arts Section, The New York Times, May 16, 2010


* * *


"Had I a mighty gun
I think I'd shoot the human race
And then to glory run!"

Poem 118, excerpt


Emily Dickinson (Amherst, MA, 1830-1886)



Further reading:

Emily Dickinson (Poets.org)

Emily Dickinson (Poetry Foundation)

Project Gutenberg: Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson. The Complete Poems (Bartleby.com)

Times Topics: Emily Dickinson (The New York Times)

Emily Dickinson (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Second Debut of Emily Dickinson (Virginia Quarterly Review)

Emily Dickinson Museum

Dickinson Electronic Archives

Emily Dickinson: The Poetry of Flowers (The New York Botanical Garden)

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