American Transcendentalism: Contemporary Poetry WebQuest

American Transcendentalism: An Online Travel Guide

Journals Poetry Special Presentations Syllabus WebQuests Links & References About This Site

WebQuest: Contemporary Nature Poetry

Overview: In this WebQuest, you will explore contemporary poets who have been influenced by the Transcendentalists. The poems are clustered according to theme: some explore the role of the imagination, others focus on studies of nature, and still others look at issues of solitude or non-conformity. Choose one “cluster” to explore and write about. Bring your ideas to class.

Step 1: Read two “fish” poems.

Learn about the life and work of Elizabeth Bishop at Poets.Org. Then read her poem, “The Fish.” (If you like, you can also read her correspondence with poet Marianne Moore about this poem.)
Learn about the life and work of Mary Oliver at Poets.Org. Read Mary Oliver’s “The Fish.”

If you choose to write an essay on these poems:

How do these poets approach the fish similarly? Differently? What does this image of nature represent to each of them? How is each Transcendental (or not)?

Step 2: Consider these reflections on “the idea.”
Learn about the life and work of Wallace Stevens at Poets.Org. Then read (and listen to) his poem, “The Idea of Order at Key West.”

Learn about the life and work of Mark Strand at Poets.Org. Read Mark Strand’s poem “The Idea.”

If you choose to write an essay on these poems:
How are Stevens’s and Strand’s “ideas” similar or different? What is the setting for each poem? Does the setting have anything to do with the “idea” each wants to communicate? How is nature portrayed? What role does the imagination play in each poem? Does imagination change nature? Enhance it? Or is the imagination more neutral? How is Transcendentalism reflected (or not reflected) in these poems?

Step 3: Explore more fully the work of Mary Oliver.
Read several of the Mary Oliver poems on this website.

If you choose to write an essay on these poems:
Pick two or three poems that you think are particularly influenced by Emerson or Thoreau. Explore ways you see this evidenced. How is Transcendentalism reflected (or not reflected) in these poems?

Step 4: Explore these poems of the water’s edge.
Read Mark Doty’s “At the Boatyard” (copy provided by Dr. Dwyer) and Elizabeth Bishop’s “At the Fishhouses.” Watch a videoclip of Alexander Scherr reading “At the Fishhouses” as part of the Favorite Poem Project.

If you choose to write an essay on these poems:
Consider the fact that both poems feature scenes of the water’s edge. What happens there? How are margins viewed by the two poets? Are the scenes similar or different? What relation does the speaker have with the natural world? How is Transcendentalism reflected (or not reflected) in these poems?

And for fun…
Take the Wallace Stevens Walking Tour.

Hear Elizabeth Bishop’s voice (reading a variety of her poems).

Hear Mark Strand’s voice (reading “From the Long Sad Party”).

Further resources on each author

Elizabeth Bishop
Modern American Poetry page on Elizabeth Bishop
A page on Elizabeth Bishop

Mark Doty
Modern American Poetry page on Mark Doty

About Mark Doty (from Ploughshares)

Mary Oliver
The Mary Oliver Home Page
Modern American Poetry page on Mary Oliver

“Poet Mary Oliver: A Soliltary Walk” (from the Christian Science Monitor)

Wallace Stevens

Modern American Poetry page on Wallace Stevens

Assorted (and very interesting) links about Wallace Stevens (including his supposed deathbed conversation)

Mark Strand

Modern American Poetry page on Mark Strand

About Mark Strand (from Ploughshares)

“American Transcendentalism: An Online Travel Guide” was produced by students in ENGL 446, American Transcendentalism, and ENGL 447, American Literature and the Prominence of Place: A Travel Practicum. These courses were team-taught in the Department of English at Shepherd College (now Shepherd University), Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in Spring 2002 by Dr. Patricia Dwyer and Dr. Linda Tate. For more information on the course and the web project, visit “About This Site.” © 2003 Linda Tate.