Join Jeffrey Morgan, Ph.D., on a journey into nineteenth-century Civil War America through the poetry of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Morgan will reveal new insights into their work, offering a fresh perspective on these titans of American poetry. Through close readings and formal analysis, you'll discover why their writing, often overshadowed by their iconic lives, is foundational to modern American poetry. Classics and lesser-known pieces will be explored, with Morgan bringing them to life through readings and discussions. Each session features their work projected on a screen, allowing you to experience these poems in a whole new way. Don't miss this opportunity to deepen your appreciation of Whitman and Dickinson!! This program is being presented as a seminar with limited enrollment to foster discussion.

"Great teacher - kept me interested and engaged!"- OLLI Patron

LECTURES:

1. Whitman: Letter from Emerson; excerpts from Preface to Leaves of Grass; selections from Song of Myself and When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer.

2. Whitman: Beat, Beat, Drums!; When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd; O Captain! My Captain!; A Noiseless Patient Spider, and I Hear America Singing.

3. Dickinson: This is my letter to the World; Tell all the truth but tell it slant; There is no Frigate like a book; I taste a liquor never brewed; Much Madness is divinest Sense; Success is counted Sweetest, and The Soul selects her own Society.

4. Dickinson: Hope is the thing with feathers; A Narrow Fellow in the Grass; It sifts from Leaden Sieves; Some keep the Sabbath going to Church; Faith is a fine invention; I heard a fly buzz; The Bustle in a House, and Because I could not stop for Death.