American Verse Project

June 19, 2009 6:14 AM

American Verse Project is assembling an electronic archive of volumes of American poetry. Most of the archive is made up of 19th century poetry, although a few 18th century and early 20th century texts are included. Notables Include: Edgar Allen Poe, Carl Sandburg, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickinson (Series [1], [2], [3]), Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), James Russell Lowell.

The full text of each volume is being converted into digital form and coded in Standard Generalized Mark-up Language (SGML) using the TEI Guidelines.(1) The volumes already online, which include books of poetry by a number of African-American and women poets, represent an interesting selection. In many cases, the texts selected are the only existing editions of the author's work.

posted by Fizz (5 comments total)

Nice. Plenty of names I've never seen before. For some of the bigger names though, bartleby has a much nicer interface.
posted by HumanComplex at 6:42 AM on June 19, 2009

Living in Hendersonville, NC as I do, I have the good fortune to be just down the road from Sandburg's home Connemara, located in East Flat Rock. He was already quite famous when he moved with his family to the Blue Ridge mountains in 1945. He already had a Pulitzer and spent his lifetime championing social justice through his writing and singing.

Sandburg's wife Lilian discovered the mountain farm Connemara with their daughter Helga. The farm had everything the family needed; a gentle climate and ample pasture for Lilian's prize-winning goat herd, plus the seclusion Sandburg needed for his writing. Standing on the rocky outcropping where Sandburg did much of his writing in a wicker chair as I have, the views and sounds are excellent inspiration. He called it home for his final 22 years.

Sandburg died at home in 1967. The property was sold by the family in 1968, donating the contents to the National Park Service to be preserved as the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site. For those, like myself, fortunate enough to be able to visit this lovely homestead, Sandburg speaks to us still through his words, songs, and the beauty that is the Connemara estate.
posted by netbros at 7:02 AM on June 19, 2009 [2 favorites]

No e. e. cummings? When I want to do my yearly check as to how electronic typesetting is coming along, that's the test.
posted by freebird at 7:58 AM on June 19, 2009

This was much cooler in my head when I misread it as the America versus Project.

America! Fuck Yeah!
posted by garlic at 9:08 PM on June 19, 2009

Needs more Whitman! I guess there's always the Walt Whitman Archive.
posted by oinopaponton at 11:44 AM on June 21, 2009