| FT-54636-06 | Research Programs: Summer Stipends | Faith Barrett | To fight aloud is very brave: American Poetry and the Civil War | 1/1/2007 - 2/28/2007 | $5,000.00 | Faith | | Barrett | | | | Lawrence University of Wisconsin | Appleton | WI | 54911-5798 | USA | 2006 | American Literature | Summer Stipends | Research Programs | 5000 | 0 | 5000 | 0 |
My project examines the stances of the address to the nation in American Civil War poetry. As the first book-length study of this material, it considers the work of canonical male writers, unpublished soldier-poets, and women and African American poets who have often been overlooked. During the war years, Americans believed that poetry had a vital role to play in defining national identity. My project considers how poets created for themselves a platform from which they could address the nations of the Confederacy, the Union, and the United States. Ultimately I suggest that the war changed the way American poets addressed their audiences and that Civil War poetry changed the way Americans understood the construct of the nation. |