1. AMERICAN POETS

2. ROBERT FROST  1874 - 1963  Lived much of his life in New England  Used more traditional poetic forms  Writes language as it is actually spoken  Writes searching and often dark meditations on universal themes  His poems are often psychologically complex with layers of ambiguity and irony  Won four Pulitzer prizes for his work

3. ROBERT FROST

4. GARY SOTO  1952 –  Born to Mexican-American working-class parents in California  Worked in the fields of San Joaquin valley when he was young  Not academically motivated, but he became interested in poetry in high school  Attended Fresno City College and then California State University  Won a bunch of awards

5. GARY SOTO  Poems focus on daily experiences, often reflecting on his life as a Chicano  About his work, the writer Joyce Carol Oates has said, "Gary Soto's poems are fast, funny, heartening, and achingly believable, like Polaroid love letters, or snatches of music heard out of a passing car; patches of beauty like patches of sunlight; the very pulse of a life."

6. GARY SOTO

7. LANGSTON HUGHES  1902 – 1967  Divorced parents – raised by grandmother until he was thirteen when he moved to Illinois to live with his mother  After graduation, spent a year in Mexico and a year at Columbia University – in this time he worked as an assistant cook, launderer, and busboy  His first novel won the Harmon gold medal for literature

8. LANGSTON HUGHES  Influenced a lot by the world of jazz  Extremely important influence on the Harlem Renaissance  Known for insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties

9. LANGSTON HUGHES

10. WALT WHITMAN  1819 – 1892  Self-taught reader  Worked at a printer, as a teacher, and finally as a journalist  Struggled to support himself much of his life  Often called the Father of Free Verse  Leaves of Grass was an attempt to reach out to the common people with an American epic

11. WALT WHITMAN

12. E.E. CUMMINGS  1894 – 1962  Began writing poetry as early as 1904  B.A. and M.A. from Harvard  Volunteer ambulance driver in WWI  He and a friend were interned in a prison camp by the French authorities on suspicion of espionage for his outspoken anti-war convictions.  Traveled throughout Europe, visiting poets and artists (like Picasso).

13. E.E. CUMMINGS  Experimented radically with form, punctuation, spelling and syntax, abandoning traditional techniques and structures to create a new means of poetic expression.  Had a great popularity, especially among young readers, for the simplicity of his language, his playful mode and his attention to subjects such as war and sex.  Second most widely read poet in America at his death after Robert Frost

14. E.E. CUMMINGS

15. EDGAR ALLEN POE  1809 – 1849  Parents died before he was three  Could not finish college because of money  Life-long struggle with depression and alcoholism  One of the originators of horror and detective fiction  “Architect” of the modern short story  Forerunner to the “art for art’s sake” movement  One of the first American writers to became a major figure in world literature.

16. EDGAR ALLEN POE

17. MAYA ANGELOU  1928—  Marguerite Johnson  author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist  Best known for her autobiographic books  In 1959, at the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou became the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

18. MAYA ANGELOU  Appointed by Gerald Ford to the Bicentennial Commission and later by Jimmy Carter to the Commission for International Woman of the Year  She accepted a lifetime appointment in 1981 as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

19. MAYA ANGELOU  In 1993, Angelou wrote and delivered a poem, "On The Pulse of the Morning," at the inauguration for President Bill Clinton at his request  The first black woman director in Hollywood, Angelou has written, produced, directed, and starred in productions for stage, film, and television

20. MAYA ANGELOU