Directions: Answer all research questions below. At the bottom of the page, list two websites that you visited for each author (four in total). A good way to start is to use the resources listed below or go to google.com and type in Whitman + biography or Dickinson + biography.
Resources:
Dickinson General Bio Websites:
 http://www.online-literature.com/dickinson/
 http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/emilybio.htm
 http://www.biographyonline.net/poets/emily_dickinson.html
 http://www.neuroticpoets.com/dickinson/
 http://www.emilydickinson.org/index.html
- Dickinson Electronic Archives
Dickinson Publication Websites:
 http://www.uta.edu/english/tim/poetry/ed/pub.html
 http://www.emilydickinson.org/classroom/spring99/edition/pub.htm
 http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/dickinson/fascicles.htm

Whitman General Bio Websites:

Walt Whitman www.whitmanarchive.org/ (make sure to use this website for the questions on Walt Whitman
. Go to “Biography and
Correspondence” and click on essay by Ed Folsom and Kenneth Price)
 http://www.online-literature.com/walt-whitman/
 http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/wwhitman.htm
 http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/126
Walt Whitman and the Civil War:
 http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/hospital/whitman.htm
 http://www.whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/encyclopedia/entry_7.html
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass , and A Banned Poet
 http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5947
Great Website for Both Poets: Poets.org
– the Academy of American Poets
Website http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/126 http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/155
Questions over Emily Dickinson
1) List her birth date and birth place.
2) Describe D ickinson’s childhood. Family life?

3) Describe her life in Amherst before she went into seclusion.
4) Where did she travel? What sorts of things interested her?
5) Who was she closest with?
6) Describe her life in Amherst after she went into seclusion.
7) What are some of the possible reasons she went into seclusion?
8) Who is Samuel Bowles and what was his relationship to Emily Dickinson?
9) Who is Thomas Wentworth Higginson and what was his relationship to
Emily Dickinson? (He is especially important after her death, which you will address in question #13, but what about while she was living?)
10) How many poems were published during her lifetime?
11) How many poems did she actually write?
12) What were the fascicles?
13)
T.W. Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd (Dickinson’s brother’s mistress) were responsible for publishing her work; however, they made changes to the original drafts of her poems. What kind of changes did they make?
Why did they make them?
14) List any other odd, surprising, or questionable bits of info you came across in your research.
Questions over Walt Whitman
1) List Whitman’s birth date and birth place.
2)
Describe in detail Whitman’s childhood. What kind of responsibilities did he have? What was his dad like? What about brothers and sisters? What are some of the hardships his family faced?
3) When was Leaves of Grass published? How many times was it edited by
Whitman?
4) What famous Transcendentalist writer inadvertently helped Whitman publish Leaves of Grass ?

5) How did Whitman feel about slavery? Please be specific in your response.
6) What President did Whitman write a poem in honor of after his death?
7) What is the title of that poem?
8) What did Whitman do during the Civil War? What led to the job? What influence did this ultimately have on Whitman?
9) When Leaves of Grass first appeared, it appalled many Americans. Why was Whitman a frequently banned poet?
10) Though Leaves of Grass was a banned novel and Whitman was pretty controversial, why is Leaves of Grass considered one of the most important works of American Literature? How did it change American poetry?