Exhibitions
OVERVIEW
The Library's Exhibitions
site features digitized versions of present and past physical
exhibits held at the Library since the early 1990s. Many exhibits
features works of poetry. Below is a list of exhibits which
includes poetry-related materials, including, when possible,
the individual pages on which the materials appear.
Online Exhibitions: Poetry Resources
American
Treasures of the Library of Congress
Anne
Bradstreet
Anne Bradstreet was the first woman poet to be published
in colonial America.
Robert
Frost's Poetry
Robert Frost wrote a new poem entitled "Dedication"
for delivery at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961,
but never read it, because the sun's glare upon the snow
blinded Frost from seeing the text. Instead, he recited
"The Gift Outright" from memory.
Langston
Hughes Requests Loan for Tuition
In 1925, Langston Hughes requested a loan from the NAACP
to pay his college tuition.
Archibald
MacLeish, "Ars Poetica"
On March 14, 1925, poet and former Librarian of Congress
Archibald MacLeish drafted what became his most famous
poem, "Ars
Poetica"--the ultimate expression
of American style "art-for-art's-sake."
Edna
St. Vincent Millay, "Renascence"
Millay's publication of "Renascence" in 1912
as a Vassar undergraduate gained her instant recognition
as
a poet.
Phillis
Wheatley
The gifted young black poet Phillis Wheatley (ca. 1753-1784)
was celebrated as "the extraordinary poetical genius" of
colonial New England even before her compilation of poems, Poems on Various Subject, Religious
and Moral, was published
in September 1773.
Walt
Whitman and the Civil War
Walt Whitman made dozens of small notebooks from paper and
ribbon to carry with him as he visited wounded Civil War
soldiers in Washington area hospitals between 1863 and 1865.
A
Whitman Notebook
The Library holds the world's largest Walt Whitman manuscript
collection, which numbers 20,000 items and includes many
original notebooks.
A Century of Creativity: The MacDowell Colony 1907-2007
This exhibit on one of the best-known U.S. artists' colonies includes displays related to Edwin Arlington Robinson's and Galway Kinnell's experiences there.
The Floating
World of Ukiyo-E
Poetry,
Narrative, and Surinomo (scroll down to section)
Includes a discussion of the emergence of haikai and
images of surimono, privately commissioned prints which
usually paired poetic texts with images and were made
to commemorate special events.
From Haven
to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America
Haven
Includes an image of poet Penina Moise’s Fancy's
Sketch Book, the first book by a Jewish woman
in the United States.
A
Century of Immigration: 1820-1924
Includes Emma Lazarus’s poem “The New Colossus”
I
Do Solemnly Swear…” Inaugural Materials from the
Collections of the Library of Congress
Inaugural
Poem printed in the Chronicle Junior on a press in a wagon
during Lincoln's inaugural parade, March 4, 1865
The
Poetry of Robert Frost
View a holograph manuscript of "Dedication," which
Frost intended to read at the inauguration of John F.
Kennedy in 1961.
John Bull
and Uncle Sam: Four Centuries of British American Relations
Common
Language, Separate Voices
Explore exhibit highlights that focus on the literary
exchange between Britain and the United States. Read
a draft of W. H. Auden's "Musée
des Beaux Arts," a holograph manuscript of Robert
Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," and other
poems.
Language of the
Land: Journeys Into Literary America
Language of the Land: Journey into Literary America examines
America's literary heritage through maps, photographs,
and the works of American authors and poets from a variety
of periods.
Revising Himself: Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass
This exhibition traces the different occupations and preparations
that led Whitman to become the author of Leaves of Grass,
as well as his subsequent evolution as a poet.
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