Poet of the Month: Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg is the poet of the month!  He was born on January 6, 1878, in Galesburg, Illinois. He fought in the Spanish-American War. In 1913, he moved to Chicago to work as a journalist. In 1914, his poetry was published in Poetry magazine. His well-recieved free verse poetry focused on American workers. He also collected folksongs into books and wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography about President Abraham Lincoln.

Click here for Carl Sandburg poems.

Famous Poet of the Month: Shel Silverstein

Children's author Shel Silverstein was born in Chicago on September 25, 1932. Though he was best known for creating stories and poems for kids, he was a man of many talents. During the 1950's, Mr. Silverstein was in the U.S. Army in Japan and Korea. He drew cartoons for magazines and wrote poems, plays and songs. He also composed music for the film, Postcards from the Edge, for which he received a nomination for an Academy Award in Music.

Silverstein wrote his first children's book, Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back, in 1963. From there, he went on to write a number of bestsellers which received numerous awards including The Giving Tree (1964), Where The Sidewalk Ends (1974), A Light In The Attic (1981), and Falling Up (1996). More than 18 million copies of his books have been sold around the world and have been translated into 20 different languages.

Silverstein died at his Florida home on May 9, 1999. If you're not already familiar with his wonderful titles, we encourage you to share them with your family. If you would like more information, please visit Shel Silverstien's official website at www.shelsiverstein.com.

Poet of The Month: Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is our famous poet of the month! During the month of March, which is Women's History Month, students will be studying her poetry.

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. She is an author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, singer and civil rights activists. In 1959, at the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou became the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1993, Angelou wrote and delivered a poem, "On The Pulse of the Morning", at the inauguration for President Bill Clinton at his request. Maya Angelou currently makes her home in two cities; Harlem, New York and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Click here to see one of her most famous poems.

Poet of the Month: Robert Frost



Poet Robert Frost, in 1954.



Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, California.  He was raised by his mother and had a younger sister named Jeannie.  By the time he was 11 years old, he had crossed the United States three times!  He married Elinor White and had two children.  Robert published many poems in his lifetime.  He won four Pulitzer awards and read his poem, The Gift Outright, at the inauuration of President John F. Kennedy.  He died on January 29, 1963 at the age of 88 years old.

To read poems by Robert Frost, click here!

If you have a short poem that you would like to share, click the comment section just below this post!

Poet of the Month: Matsuo Basho

Drawing of poet, Matuo Basho.

Matsuo Basho is the father of haiku poetry!  This Japanese poet was born in Japan in 1644.  His literary name, Basho, came from the plantain trees [basho] near a hut that was built for him. He composed stanzas of haikai no renga (a sequence of linked verses, usually by a group of poets), whose opening, and most important, stanza (hokku) was later separated as the verse form haiku.  His poetry is noted for its sensitive exploration of nature of beauty, loneliness, suffering, and death. He traveled a lot and was very spiritual.  He died in 1994.

For more information about Matsuo Basho, see Mr. Cantu or click here for haiku worksheets!  To read haikus written by elementary school students, click here!  Would you like to enter a poetry contest?  Get your parents permission and click here!

Poet of The Month: Pedro Mir

Pedro Mir (1913-2000) is the Dominican Republic’s foremost literary figure of the 20th century. Mir also produced considerable work in the fields of history, fiction, and art criticism. In 1962, the poet won the hearts of the Dominican people, and his poetry recitals were mass public events attended by enthusiastic crowds of citizens from every walk of life. In 1982 the Dominican Congress conferred upon Mir the title of National Poet, and in January 1993 he received the National Prize for Literature. On the occasion of Mir’s death, President Leonel Fernández declared three days of national mourning and said Mir would live on through his works.

Pedro Mir is the poet of the month. Click here to see one of his most famous poems.

Poet of The Month: William Wordsworth

Born on April 7, 1770, in England (United Kingdom), William Wordsworth was the second of five children born to John Wordsworth and Ann Cookson. Wordsworth learned poetry through his father, who guided him with the literary works of Shakespeare, Milton and Spenser. He began publishing his sonnets in a European magazine in 1787. After graduating with a degree in Arts, William took tours, often enjoying the landscapes and doing walking tours. Most of his poems are romantic, portrayed living figures and he showcased his love for them. His poems were published in 1793.

During the month of May, teachers and students will be reading poems written by Wordsworth. Here is an excerpt from his most famous poem entitled Daffodils;

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

Poet of The Month: Edgar Allan Poe

Each month, PS4 students study a famous poet! This month's famous poet is:

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American poet and short-story author, known as a master of scary stories. He also wrote detective and science fiction stories. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but grew up in Richmond, Virginia and was orphaned at an early age. Throughout his life, he had many jobs. He was a sergeant in the army, a literary critic and a magazine editor. His most famous poem, The Raven, was written in 1845. Here is an excerpt:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more."

Do you think you know enough about this poet? Take this quiz and let us know your results by posting a comment.

Poet of The Month: Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman is the famous poet of the month! For the month of January, students will be studying his poetry.

Walt Whitman was born on May 13, 1819 in West Hills (Long Island), New York. He is considered by many to be the greatest of all American poets. Walt Whitman celebrated the freedom and dignity of the individual and sang the praises of democracy and the brotherhood of man. His Leaves of Grass, unconventional in both content and technique, is probably the most influential volume of poems in the history of American literature. Whitman died in 1892. Read one of his poems below.

A Farm-Picture THROUGH the ample open door of the peaceful country barn,
A sun-lit pasture field, with cattle and horses feeding;
And haze, and vista, and the far horizon, fading away.

Famous Poet of The Month

Emily Dickinson was born December 10, 1830. She was born to Edward and Emily Norcross Dickinson. She had an older brother named Austin, and a younger sister named Lavina. As a child. Emily had lots of friends and loved to have fun.

When she grew older though, her social life changed dramatically. First, she would only leave her house to tend to her garden or visit her brother who lived next door. Then, she started to only stay in her room, occasionally coming down to the kitchen and only once in a while going out to her garden.

She had a few nieces and nephews. Her favorite (Gib) died young. She loved children, and would lower gingerbread or other sweets down in a basket from her window. The kids also loved her. She remained unmarried with no children her whole life, though many people think she had a secret love. Very few of her poems were published during her life, most having been found in a dresser after her death.

Emily Dickinson died on May 15, 1886 at age 55 from Bright's Disease.