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WebQuest: Emily Dickinson and the Space Inside Overview: In this WebQuest, you will explore
Emily Dickinson’s poetry and letters. Naturally you will want to see how
Dickinson expresses the Transcendental ethos in her way (as only Dickinson
could!).
Read this biography
of Dickinson at the Poets.org website. See Dickinson’s home
in Amherst. See Joyce
Carol Oates dressed as Dickinson! Three fun resources: an article
on a possible new discovery of a Dickinson photograph, another piece on a potential daguerreotype of Dickinson, and Dickinson’s Black Cake recipe. Step 2: Prepare to read Dickinson’s
poems. You’ll find it helpful to consider these guidelines
for reading Dickinson’s poetry and to learn about her use of
hymn meter. Other tips for reading her poetry can be found at The Academy of American Poets
website. You might find intriguing this article on Dickinson’s quirky use
of punctuation. “Watch” Emily
Dickinson Writing a Poem. (After you click on this link, if you are
prompted for a user id and password, type in dickinson as your user id and
ink_on_disc as your password.) Take a look at how Dickinson wrote her poetry.
This site includes some of Dickinson’s manuscripts. You don’t need to explore
all of these screens – but do spend a few minutes looking around. Great fun! Finally, think about the degree to which Dickinson can be considered a
Transcendentalist. Step 3: Explore Dickinson’s poems. Read these poems and think about their Transcendental themes. All of the poems (as printed in the Johnson edition) are available at this site – but you will have to go in and find each one by number. 5 I have a Bird in spring 324 Some keep the Sabbath going to Church– 435
Much Madness is divinest Sense– After reading the poems, explore the key Dickinson sites (as listed below). Follow as many links as possible. Watch this video from the “Favorite Poem” Project.
Read about Dickinson’s
love letters. Read excerpts from Open Me Carefully (letters to Susan Gilbert). You
may also want to explore “Love and Conquest: The Erotics of Colonial Discourse in
Dickinson’s Poetry and Letters” (part of the Classroom Electric project).
Learn about the role of The Atlantic Monthly in presenting Dickinson to
the public. Read the famous piece by Thomas Wentworth Higginson entitled “Emily Dickinson’s Letters.” Read another famous
Higginson letter: “Letter to a Young Contributor.” Read at least one of the critical
works listed on this site and bring ideas to class discussion. This site
connects to several important links as well as a number of critical works
on Dickinson’s poetry. There are many web projects
featuring the life and work of Emily Dickinson. Explore as many of this as
fully as you can (and if you’re writing the essay on Dickinson, be sure to
delve deeply as you develop your ideas!). Web English Teacher: Emily Dickinson Donna Campbell’s Washington State University Page on Dickinson The Classroom
Electric: Whitman, Dickinson, and American Culture Journal Prompt #1: Take a walk outside, observe some
aspect of nature, and write a Dickinson-style poem about what you see. Journal Prompt #2: Write a love letter in the inimitable
Dickinson style. (Okay, we know: if it’s inimitable, why are we asking you to
imitate it? Well, try it anyway!) Journal Prompt #3: Write a “love letter” (letter of
appreciation/praise) to Dickinson using her letter-writing style. You might,
for example, tell her how much the world has fallen in love with her since
her death. Journal Prompt #4: Many people find Dickinson’s
poetry difficult to read and/or to understand. Briefly describe what you find
difficult about reading her poetry. Then develop one specific tip you’d share
with others (friends or future students) so that they could learn to “unlock”
Dickinson’s work. Essay Question: From the list above, choose two of Dickinson’s poems that relate to each other in terms of a Transcendental theme (e.g., nature, individualism, solitude, non-conformity or another of your choice). Explore the theme as Dickinson develops it in similar or different ways in the two poems. As always, be sure to include resources from the WebQuest. See the Essay Guidelines for more detail about research, sources, length requirements, and documentation. “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. |