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Poetry

Useful Databases:

Bloom's Literature

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eLibrary

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Password: Crusaders19!e

Useful Websites:

How to Use Bloom's Literature

How to use Bloom's Literature.webm

Google Search Tips:

Boolean Searching:

Boolean searching allows you to more efficiently search for targeted information, using connected words, phrases, and/or domains. For instance, if I want to find information on Amanda Gorman, I could limit my responses by inserting the following in my search bar:

Biography AND "Amanda Gorman" AND "national youth poet" AND -.com

Intitle Searching:

Intitle searching allows you to locate information primarily focused on your main subject, as your search results are limited to works that include your terms in the title. This is very effective when combined with Boolean searching. However, you may find it to be too restrictive. You just have to try different search strategies to see what works best. Note that there is no space between the colon and your first word or term. Here is an example:

intitle:"Amanda Gorman" AND -.com AND .edu

Domains: Removing or adding domains can also enhance the quality of your results. In the examples above, the domain .com was removed/reduced by adding -.com. In the second example .edu was added, ensuring a greater search response that includes educational sites.

Amanda Gorman, Youngest Inaugural Poet

Amanda Gorman, a 22-year-old poet from Los Angeles, is following in the footsteps of Robert Frost and Maya Angelou as she took the stage for President Biden's inauguration.

Gorman, like Biden, had a speech impediment as a child (Biden had a stutter; Gorman had difficulty pronouncing certain sounds.) She was drawn to poetry as a way to express her feelings.

Gorman holds the distinction of being the first National Youth Poet Laureate.

United State Poet Laureate Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. She earned her BA from the University of New Mexico and MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Harjo draws on First Nation storytelling and histories, as well as feminist and social justice poetic traditions, and frequently incorporates indigenous myths, symbols, and values into her writing. Her poetry inhabits landscapes—the Southwest, Southeast, but also Alaska and Hawaii—and centers around the need for remembrance and transcendence. She once commented, “I feel strongly that I have a responsibility to all the sources that I am: to all past and future ancestors, to my home country, to all places that I touch down on and that are myself, to all voices, all women, all of my tribe, all people, all earth, and beyond that to all beginnings and endings. In a strange kind of sense [writing] frees me to believe in myself, to be able to speak, to have voice, because I have to; it is my survival.” Her work is often autobiographical, informed by the natural world, and above all preoccupied with survival and the limitations of language. She was named U.S. poet laureate in June 2019 and will continue to serve through 2021.

National Youth Poet Laureate

In May 2020, Meera Dasgupta was named the National Youth Poet Laureate. Meeera is an activist, a member of numerous advocacy groups, a poet, and an outstanding student. She is also the 2020 Regional Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador the northeastern United State, a Van Lier Fellow, Federal Hall Fellow, Climate Speaks Winner, and Scholastic Arts and Writing winner. Her performances have been featured by the NY Times, PBS, Apple, Grist, The Apollo, and Bryant Park. She has been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall, the Teen Vogue Summit, TedXCUNY, amounst many others.

Click here to learn more about the National Youth Poet Laureate Program.

Click here to meet more National Youth Poets.

List of United States Poet Laureates

The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—commonly referred to as the United States Poet Laureate—serves as the official poet of the United States. During their term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.