Materials . . .

Whitman and Dickinson, Spring 2009

Here is the syllabus.

Whitman and Dickinson: All the texts

Here are the texts that I ordered for the course. You do need these particular editions.

Dickinson, Emily. The Poems. Ed. R.W. Franklin. Reading edition. Cambridge: Belknap, 1999. ISBN 0674676246. There are multiple published versions of all of her poems, and we will work only with these Franklin versions.

Walt Whitman, Franklin Evans, or The Inebriate: A Tale of the Times. Ed. Christopher Castiglia and Glenn Hendler. Durham: Duke University Press, 2007. ISBN13 978-0822339427.

For Whitman's poetry, we will read in the Whitman archive. Mainly from links on this page, which gives you the full text (with page images) of all seven American editions of Leaves of Grass.

We will also read a lot of this book. I will explain more on the first day of class.

Emily Dickinson's love life

For Slate, Christopher Benfrey summarizes biographical scholarship by Carol Damon Andrews, Brenda Wineapple, Genevieve Taggard, and George F. Whicher on Dickinson's early love, George Gould.

Walt Whitman, "The Child and the Profligate" (1844)

For the American Romantic Fiction seminar, Natalie Williams prepared this edition of Walt Whitman's "The Child and the Profligate." You can find the full, unformatted text plus a link for a PDF download in the extended body of this post.

All the words, Fall 2007

Students in the undergraduate survey (American Literature 1) must memorize these words and definitions. And they remain useful for students in senior- and graduate-level seminars.

Whitman and Dickinson, Fall 2007

Here is the syllabus for the graduate-level Whitman and Dickinson seminar.

Charles Wadsworth sermons online

The ATLA Cooperative Digital Resources Initiative has digitally published several sermons by Emily Dickinson's great crush, the Reverend Charles Wadsworth. They can be found by visiting the home page and searching the database for keywords Charles Wadsworth.

For the Whitman and Dickinson seminar, we will read two thanksgiving-day sermons dating to the early period of their friendship: "Politics in Religion" (1854) and "America's Mission" (1855).

Whitman and Dickinson will meet in Olin 123A

FYI.

More Dickinson readings

These four, recent, scholarly articles will be assigned reading for the Whitman and Dickinson seminar.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson's Letter to a Young Contributor (1862)

Alfred Habegger's discussion of this important essay begins on page 451 of My Wars.

Martha Nell Smith transcribed and made available this text here at emilydickinson.org.

Dinah Craik's Head of the Family (1858)

This fall, in the Dickinson & Whitman seminar, we'll read selected primary texts that figure in the biographies of the poets. As I round these up this summer, I will post links to the readings that I find online.

Alfred Habegger discusses Emily Dickinson's reading of Dinah Craik's antebellum novel, Head of the Family, on page 248 (and elsewhere, see index) of My Wars are Laid Away in Books. This is creepy stuff. Habegger argues that the novel might illuminate her "wife" poems as well as her relationship with the man she called "Master." We'll read some of this novel this fall. Send me an email if you find a good part worth discussion.

Google Books now offers a head-spinning collection of antebellum primary texts online in PDF format. Here is Dinah Craik's Head of the Family.

Alfred Habegger on My Wars Are Laid Away in Books

We are reading Alfred Habegger's 2001 literary biography of Emily Dickinson, My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson, in this fall's Dickinson and Whitman seminar. WGBH of Boston has this page with links to audio and video streams (RealPlayer required) of Habegger speaking about the book and answering questions about Dickinson. The event was taped on Wednesday, October 29, 2002, for the Cambridge Forum series. Whenever you read a big scholarly book like this, it's always a good idea to spend some time reading about the book and, whenever possible, listening to the author talk about the book as well. So ... I recommend that all Dickinson and Whitman students find the time to sit in on Dr. Habegger's archived talk.

Book order for Whitman and Dickinson, Fall 2007

Here are the books for the Fall 2007 graduate seminar.

Fall 2007 courses

Right now I am scheduled to teach the following courses: American Women Poets (MWF 9:55am), American Literature 1 (MWF 11am), and Whitman and Dickinson (Tuesday 5:20pm).

Tombstone of Susan Gilbert's father found

The Associated Press reports that Gen. Thomas Gilbert’s headstone was found in the front yard of the Emily Dickinson Museum. On Halloween, no less.

Whitman and Dickinson, Fall 2004

Here is a graduate seminar that ran in the Fall of 2004.