Want to hear Tennyson reciting “Charge of the Light Brigade” (recited onto a wax cylinder in 1890)? T. S. Eliot reading “The Waste Land?” Langston Hughes recite “I, Too?” These and other historic recordings as well as contemporary poets can be heard in the Poetry Archive Audio within Literature Online (LION). You can also take a listen in Poets On Screen, also available in LION, and in ProQuest Learning-Literature. Poets On Screen is a collection of video clips of contemporary poets reading selections of their own work and their favorite classic poems. In some you will find the poet also describing the work and how it developed. (eg. Robert Bly, “After Drinking All Night with a Friend, we go out in a Boat at Dawn to See Who Can Write the Best Poem”). For National Poetry Month, we’re highlighting a few of the GoWYLD.net databases.
In addition to LION and ProQuest Learning-Literature, check out High School (Gale In Context). By selecting Browse Topic, you will find: Poetry. This includes a poetry overview, Critical Thinking questions for students to consider, major works and authors. Example searches can be found on the Poetry guide, gowyld.libguides.com/literature/poetry.
For book titles, take a look at Books & Authors. Select nonfiction + humanities. Then search poetry to browse titles. Or try an advanced search selecting nonfiction + young adult and subject poetry. No need to add terms to search boxes to get results.
For these resources, go to GoWYLD.net and select Literature under Subjects. You will find tabs for poetry and Shakespeare, as well as tutorials and marketing materials. You can also select from Browse Database by Title. These are available in your library, school and from home. For remote access you will need your library card and PIN.
For assistance, please contact your local library or contact Chris Van Burgh, Wyoming State Library Database Instruction Librarian, at chris.vanburgh@wyo.gov.