POETRY
11th Grade English
Miss Kenyon
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FAMOUS POETS
Click on each picture to learn about that poet
William Shakespeare
Maya Angelou
E. E. Cummings
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Robert Frost
Emily Dickinson
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Edgar Allan Poe
William Wordsworth
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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
• April 23, 1564- April 23, 1616
• Famous Works:
• Wrote 154 Sonnets
• Romeo and Juliet
• Wrote 37 Plays
• A Mid Summer Night's Dream
• Born in Stratford- upon- Avon
• The Tempest
• Had 7 brothers and sisters
• The Taming of the Shrew
• Married Anne Hathaway
• Sonnet 18
• Had 8 children
• Sonnet 116
• Part of Lord Chamberlain’s Men
• Sonnet 29
E. E. CUMMINGS
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• Edward Estlin Cummings
• October 14, 1894- September 3,
1962
• Born in Cambridge, MA
• One child: Nancy
• Painter
• Married Elaine Orr; Anne Minnerly
Barton; Marrion Morehouse
• Wrote 1 poem every day for 14
years
• Graduated from Harvard University
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Famous Works:
I Carry Your Heart With Me
The Enormous Room
Tulips and Chimneys
XLI Poems
Is 5
ViVa
HIM
Elmi
No Thanks
ROBERT FROST
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• March 26,1874- January 29, 1963
• Born in San Francisco, CA
• Moved to Lawrence, MA after
father’s death
• Attended Dartmouth and Harvard
• 4x Pulitzer Prize Winner
• Married Elinor White
• 5 children
• United States Poet Laureate
Famous Works:
The Road Not Taken
Christmas Trees
In The Home Stretch
Meeting and Passing
Bond and Free
A Time to Talk
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy
Evening
• Hyla Brook
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EDGAR ALLAN POE
• January 29, 1809- October 7, 1849
• Famous Works:
• Born in Boston, MA
• The Raven
• Father left early on; Mother died
when he was 3
• The Fall of the House of Usher
• “Father of the Detective Story”
• Murders in the Rue Morgue
• Went to University of Virginia
• Married his cousin, Virginia
• Alcoholic
• Died in debt
• The Tell-tale Heart
• The Purloined Letter
• The Bells
• Annabel Lee
• A Dream Within A Dream
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MAYA ANGELOU
• Born “Marguerite Annie Johnson”
• Famous Works:
• April 4, 1928- May 28, 2014
• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
• Author, poet, dancer, actress,
singer, Civil Rights Activist
• Touched By An Angel
• Abused as a child
• Attended California Labor School
• Had a son at 16
• Married Anastasios Angelopulus
• Became “Maya Angelou”
• Woman Work
• Still I Rise
• Alone
• Insomniac
• The Lesson
• They Went Home
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING
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• March 6, 1806- June 29, 1861
• Famous Works:
• Born in Kelloe, UK
• How Do I Love Thee?
• Died in Florence, Italy
• A Dead Rose
• Married Robert Browning
• The Cry of the Children
• Had one son
• A Woman’s Shortcomings
• One of the most prominent poets
during the Victorian Era
• Change Upon Change
• Oldest of 12 children
• Sonnet 14
• Disinherited by father and brothers
after marriage to Browning
• A Thought For a Lonely Death-Bed
• My Heart and I
EMILY DICKINSON
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• December 10, 1830- May 15, 1886
• Born in Amherst, MA
• Filled notebooks with poems and
letters that were not found or
published until after her death
• Grandfather founded Amherst
College
• Attended Amherst College and
Mount Holyoke Female Seminary
• Never Married
• Suffered from depression
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Famous Works:
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
“Faith” is a fine invention
A bird came down
A coffin- is a small domain
“Why do I love” You Sir?
A Dying Tiger- moaned for Drink
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
I Cannot Live Without You
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April 7, 1770- April 23, 1850
Born in Cumberland, England
He and 4 siblings were orphaned
Attended St. John’s College
Part of French Revolution
Fathered Caroline out of wedlock
Married Mary Hutchinson
Had 5 children with Mary
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
Famous Works:
Daffodils
A Farewell
The Solitary Reapers
A Complaint
A Night Thought
It was an April Morning: Fresh and
Clear
• I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
• Calm is all nature as a resting wheel
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WHO WROTE “ I WANDERED
LONELY AS A CLOUD”?
A) Maya Angelou
B) William Wordsworth
C) William Shakespeare
D) E. E. Cummings
INCORRECT
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CORRECT!
William Wordsworth wrote “I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud”
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WHO WAS AN AUTHOR, POET,
DANCER, ACTRESS, SINGER, AND CIVIL
RIGHTS ACTIVIST?
A) Maya Angelou
B) Emily Dickinson
C) Elizabeth Barrett Browning
D) E. E. Cummings
INCORRECT
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CORRECT!
Maya Angelou was an author, poet, dancer, actress,
singer, and Civil Rights Activist!
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WHICH POET WAS NOT FAMOUS
UNTIL AFTER THEIR DEATH?
A) Maya Angelou
B) Emily Dickinson
C) Elizabeth Barrett Browning
D) E. E. Cummings
INCORRECT
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CORRECT!
Emily Dickinson’s work was not discovered or published
until after she died.
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THIS POET DIED ON THEIR BIRTHDAY
A) William Wordsworth
B) Emily Dickinson
C) William Shakespeare
D) Edgar Allan Poe
INCORRECT
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CORRECT!
William Shakespeare was born and died on April 23, just
52 years apart!
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THIS POET WAS ALSO A PAINTER
A) Edgar Allan Poe
B) Emily Dickinson
C) William Shakespeare
D) E. E. Cummings
INCORRECT
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CORRECT!
E. E. Cummings was a painter as well as a poet!
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