Poem Identification

Written by Anonymous: showcase the key values of patriotism and loyalty to tribe, family bonds, and spirituality.

Cherokee War Song

Written by Anne Bradstreet: Mostly focuses on what the speaker thinks it means for a woman like her to write poems.

The Prologue

Before the Birth of One of Her Children

Written by Anne Bradstreet:

Here Follows Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our House

Written by Anne Bradstreet:

On Being Brought from Africa to America

Written by Phillis Wheatley:

To the University of Cambridge, in New England

Written by Phillis Wheatley:

To His Excellency General Washington

Written by Phillis Wheatley:

Anabel Lee

Written by Edgar Alan Poe:

The Raven

Written by Edgar Alan Poe:

Cross of Snow

Written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

Evangeline

Written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

Song of Myself

Written by Walt Whitman:

The Battle of Autumn of 1862

Written by John Greenleaf Whittier

Poetic language play, performative nature, and focus on conveying core values like patriotism, loyalty, resilience, and spiritual connection, rather than just military action.

Anonymous: Writing Style

The poems often focused on the themes of family, morality, salvation, nature, love, and religion. Bradstreet wrestled with some of the beliefs of Puritanism and she struggled to accept the role that women played in Puritan society.

Anne Bradstreet: Writing Style

Their writing is characterized by its adherence in the 1700s Neoclassical literary conventions, with her work often using sophisticated techniques to subtly explore her experiences with slavery, race, and Christian faith. 

Phillis Wheatley: Writing Style

Gothic elements, such as dark settings and a pervasive atmosphere of dread, combined with deep psychological exploration of themes like madness, guilt, and the fragile boundary between reality and illusion

Edgar Alan Poe: Writing Style

Writing style is characterized by lyrical beauty, clear language, and accessible narrative, often incorporating themes of American identity, nature, and human experience with a gentle, optimistic tone.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Writing Style

Employs syntactic parallelism, catalogue techniques, and compounds to create a complex figure of eloquence, a speaker-writer who is both an active, individualized observer of postwar urban America and a more withdrawn, retrospective, general diagnostician of postwar America's materialistic disease.

Walt Whitman: Writing Style

In his best poems Whittier displayed a mastery of local color techniques, a competent use of rural imagery, and the everyday language of the Merrimack farmer

John Greenleaf Whittier: Writing Style

Emily Dickerson’s “I never lost as much but twice” (39)

The manuscript of 'I Never Lost As Much But Twice' can be dated about 1858, several years after the deaths of Leonard Humphrey and Benjamin Newton and yet it is possible that Emily Dickinson is looking back at their deaths and comparing them to the present departure or faithlessness of a friend or a beloved person.

Emily Dickerson’s “A Clock stopped-” (259)

A Clock stopped" by Emily Dickinson is a thought-provoking poem that uses the metaphor of a stopped clock to explore the theme of death. Through vivid imagery and symbolism, the poem delves into the moments of dying and the finality of life's end.

Emily Dickerson’s “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” (260)

Central Message: A nobody with an authentic self and inner truth is far more worthy than the hollow somebody imitating conventional standards

Speaker: A proud Nobody, often considered Emily Dickinson herself due to her reclusive lifestyle