"Too much of a good thing" describes not only the internet but the conditions under which we live in modern life. This site is filled with old fashioned print in the belief that it will reward the reader willing to make the effort. The internet on which it resides, however, makes every effort to have you avoid any kind of sustained focus. The mark of an educated person has always been the taste he has developed through sustained and honestly conducted study. The arrival of forty-five television channels works against the chance that meaningful tv (there surely is such a thing)will be viewed by more than a handful of accidental visitors to that channel. The internet drastically minimizes this chance of meaningful encounter.The internet, of course, is dominated by the postmodern attitude that sneers at meaning, and, if you are of this tribe, you should be off surfing, not listening to this old time rant. But, if you're not, you might see that the real challenge for you is to devote your energies to things of quality (as Robert Pirsig tried to do in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance). "What is worth teaching?" is the essential question which education departments never consider, lacking, it would seem, the requirements needed to pursue such a question. "What is worth knowing?" is the question students should be asking (and do ask) of themselves and their teachers. Have you heard the common complaint: I wasted hours surfing on the net and in the end didn't find much of value? The things of real value, I suspect, don't change. When the only book in town was The Bible, it was hard to avoid things of quality. Now we are directed to websites replete with flashing gizmos and gimmicks which are as empty as the imaginations which created them.
Who are the wisemen of our age, now that saints have been negated? Which few poets and writers are worth our limited time? How do we go about learning to read them? How do I resist a culture that sneers at my "elitism" and need for "meaning"? It is there, but today's seeker needs to practice extraordinary selectivity and focus. It is there to be found, if you don't get lost.
The following links are far from unpolluted, but they are capable of providing useful support for this English course.
Poets The William Blake Archive Homepage Blake Digital TextProject The Works of William Blake: Table of Contents The Visual Art of William Blake Blake's "Tyger": A Literary Web Page Elizabeth Bishop (a Nova Scotia connection) Welcome to Burns Country - the official Robert Burns web site An exceptional Geoffrey Chaucer Site from Harvard The Chaucer Metapage Audio Files: Listen to 5 versions of the Prologue & more Canterbury Tales (Middle English) Canterbury Tales (Modern English) S. T. Coleridge Home Page E. E. Cummings gets decent coverage at this site Dante Bob Dylan's Complete Lyrics Bob Dylan Bringin' It All Back Homepage Gerard Manley Hopkins Overview Robert Frost: a poetry website to set the standard for others! Hopkins, Gerard Manley. 1918. Poems. John Keats: A Comprehensive Study of his Life and Works The Unofficial Philip Larkin Home Page Soft Animal: The Poetry of Mary Oliver Shakespeare Complete Works Shakespeare: Go no further, this site is loaded! See the criticism pages of individual plays AT Last! A. C. Bradley's incomparable discussions of Shakespeare's Big Four: Shakespearean Tragedy Shakespeare Criticism, including Hamlet Dylan Thomas Yeats Society of New York Home Page The Collected Poetry of W. B. Yeats
Poetry
The American Academy of Poets (includes some great audio selections) Modern American Poetry. This wonderfully useful site has background and criticism on 161 poets. Versification: An Electronic Journal of Literary Prosody The Poetry Poll The University of Toronto's enormous selection of poets: Representative Poetry On-Line Links To Twentieth Century Poets Beowulf Resources Anglo-Saxon Culture Great Writers and Poets
Novelists and Short Story Writers
Albert Camus Critical Interpretation Homepage Existentialist: Albert Camus {Katharena Eiermann} William Faulkner on the Web Thomas Hardy Resource Library Ernest Hemingway: a site for true fans! Hermann Hesse JAMES JOYCE'S PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST JOYCE: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Katharine Mansfield homepage The Alice Munro Page: Canada's most famous short story writer Cormac McCarthy Home Page The Political Writings of George Orwell Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Books and Things Literary
Arts and Letters Daily: A compendium of things literary from news and reviews - first rate! The Pathology Guy: A scientist who loves literature? Youbetcha-this site has enough energy to launch a rocket! The Literary Critic: a great source of book lists Author Interviews from the Dalkey Press: leading writers discuss writing Harold Bloom's enormous listing of the entire Western Canon Read more by and on Harold Bloom at Stanford's site, impressive for its list of interviews Malispina's Great Books on the Web Classic texts from Rome and Greece - 441 of them! The History Guide: history buffs--this guide's for you! Exploring Ancient World Cultures: Near East; India; Greece; Rome; Medieval Europe; Islam; Egypt; China Bhagavad Gita: Arjuna's chat with Krishna on the meaning of life and death Books and Book Collecting: a tremendous resource - especially the links on page 2 Advanced Book Exchange-abebooks: the largest used book source on the net (21million+) MX Bookfinder: the ultimate in locating and pricing used books Book Lovers: Fine Books and Literature Project Bartleby Links to the Literary from U. of Michigan where my uncle used to teach Ken Hope's Humanities Courses at Truman College Literary Links to the Web by Jack Lynch Luminarium: Chaucer to the 17th century VOICE OF THE SHUTTLE HOME PAGE Romanticism On the Net Victorian Web
Language Reference and Resource
The Hacker Guide to MLA Documentation (including a sample paper). USE THIS PAGE for your complete documentation reference. A Writer's Practical Guide to MLA Documentation (Very Good) Citation Styles including MLA / Chicago / APA NoodleTools: a great site to do your bibliographies and answer questions on research Electronic Sources Style Guide The UVic Writer's Guide: Start Here Guide to Grammar and Writing: It's hard to beat this site for thoroughness-truly remarkable! History of the English Language: A huge resource for everything imaginable on this subject Silva Rhetoricae: The Forest of Rhetoric. Superb site Bob's(impressive)Glossary of Poetic Terms National Association of Scholars (NAS) Home Page Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1901) The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce Postmodern Prose Generator (a parody) Index of On-line Dictionaries Refdesk.com gives you 87+ links to grammar sites! refdesk.com's Essential Reference Tools Purdue University On-line Writing Lab Grammar and Style Notes by Jack Lynch On-Line English Grammar The WordWizard Portal: "for lovers of the English language" The Vocabula Review: A British Magazine offers support for the English language
Media: Magazines/News/Radio
Arts and Letters Daily: A compendium of things literary from news and reviews - first rate! The best listings on the web. Sci Tech Daily - does for science what Arts and Letters Daily does for the humanities Christianity Today: a surprisingly rich resource for literature and the humanities Harper's Home Page Context: A Forum for Literary Arts and Culture Commentary Utne Reader The New Criterion IDEAS: CBC's best ever program for the mind. Check their 3 month schedule. Listen on Real Audio slate: a zine Ottawa Citizen Online Gateway Welcome to WashingtonPost.com Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Website The Toronto Globe and Mail The National Post - Canada's other national newspaper The New Republic salon: a first rate zine Search The Atlantic Monthly Boston Book Review Home Page Poetry Magazine
Student Webpages
Darcy Wry's Page on the Romantic poet, John Keats
Daniel Ellis's Verbal Page offers a chance to improve your understanding of verbals
Crystal Jones and April St. Peter offer a visual and biographical tour of some poets on this course
Jennifer Borne and Nick Porter's colorful page on Shakespeare's use of animal imagery in Macbeth
Patty O'Byrne and Jess MacPherson's fine page on William Blake--sophisticated and personal!