Professor
English
My area of specialization is American poetry: reading it, interpreting it, and writing it. I am especially interested in how poetry engages with readers beyond the academy. Current projects include 鈥淐hapter and Verse,鈥� for the Cambridge History of Children鈥檚 Literature; a study of Viking artifacts in nineteenth-century poetry for a volume titled From Iceland to the Americas; and a new edited collection (with Sandra Lee Kleppe) on poetry and sustainability in higher education.
Past books include Distance Learning (New Issues/Western Michigan UP, 1998); Schoolroom Poets: Poetry, Pedagogy, and Daily Life in America (UPNE 2005, a Children鈥檚 Literature Association Honor Book); Over the River and Through the Wood: An Anthology of Nineteenth-Century American Children鈥檚 Poetry, co-edited with Karen Kilcup (Johns Hopkins UP 2013, a Choice Outstanding Academic Book); Bird Skin Coat: Poems (U of Wisconsin P 2009, winner of the Brittingham Prize and the Midwest Book Award), The Sleeve Waves: Poems (U of Wisconsin P 2014, winner of the Felix Pollak Prize); and a collection co-edited with Sandra Kleppe, Poetry and Pedagogy Across the Lifespan (Palgrave 2018).
Courses Taught
- American Literature
- Creative Writing (Poetry)
Research Interests
- American Poetry
- Children's Literature
- Creative Writing Pedagogy
Publications
Books, Editions, Collections
- 2023 Poetry and the Global Climate Crisis: Creative Educational Approaches to Complex Challenges, co-edited with Amatoritsero Ede and Sandra Lee Kleppe.
- 2018 Poetry and Pedagogy Across the Lifespan, co-edited with Sandra Lee Kleppe. Palgrave UK.
- 2014 The Sleeve Waves (poems). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
- 2013 Over the River and Through the Wood: An Anthology of Nineteenth-Century American Children鈥檚 Poetry, co-edited with Karen Kilcup. Johns Hopkins University Press.
- 2009 Bird Skin Coat (poems). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
- 2005 Schoolroom Poets: Childhood, Performance, and the Place of American Poetry, 1865-1917. Becoming Modern series. Hanover, NH: University of New Hampshire/University Press of New England.
- 1998 Distance Learning (poems). Kalamazoo, MI: New Issues Press/Western Michigan University.
Scholarly articles and book chapters (selected):
- 2018 鈥淏aby to Baby: Lydia Sigourney and the Origins of Cuteness,鈥� in Elizabeth Petrino and Mary Louise Kete, eds. Lydia Sigourney: Critical Essays and Cultural Views. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
- 2018 鈥淭he Chemistry of Poetry: Transfer Across Disciplines,鈥� with Tracy Thompson, Sandra Kleppe and Angela Sorby, eds., Poetry and Pedagogy Across the Lifespan (London: Palgrave UK, 2018) 19-36.
- 2017 "鈥橝 Dimple in the Tomb": Cuteness in Emily Dickinson.鈥�" ESQ: A Journal of Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Culture, 63: 2 (2017) 297-328.
- 2017 鈥淐onjuring Readers: Antebellum African-American Children鈥檚 Poetry,鈥� a chapter in Anna Mae Duane and Kate Capshaw Smith, eds., Who Writes for Black Children? African-American Children鈥檚 Literature Before 1900. University of Minnesota Press.
- 2016 鈥淲omen Poets, Child Readers,鈥� in Jennifer Putzi and Alexandra Socarides, eds., A History of American Women鈥檚 Poetry. Cambridge University Press.
- 2016 鈥淐hildren鈥檚 Culture,鈥� in Gary Burns, ed., The Blackwell Companion to Popular Culture. New York: Blackwell.
- 2015 鈥�At Home in the Stranger鈥檚 House: Poetic Revision and Spiritual Practice,鈥� in Anne M. Pasero and John Pustejovsky, 鈥淎nd have you changed your life?鈥� The Challenge of Listening to the Spiritual in Contemporary Poetry. 蜜桃影像 Press.
- 2014 鈥淒isciplined Play: Children鈥檚 Poetry to 1920,鈥� a chapter in Alfred Bendixen and Stephen Burt, eds., The Cambridge History of American Poetry. Cambridge University Press.
- 2013 鈥淓ducation,鈥� in Eliza Richards, ed., Emily Dickinson In Context. Cambridge University Press, 36-45.
- 2013 鈥淧retty New Moons: Contact Zones in Nineteenth-Century American Children鈥檚 Poetry,鈥� with Karen Kilcup. Introduction to Over the River and Through the Wood. Johns Hopkins UP.
- 2012 鈥淩ecitation鈥� and 鈥淔ireside Poets,鈥� entries in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, Princeton UP, 2012.
- 2011 鈥淲ho Wrote 鈥淩ock Me to Sleep?: Elizabeth Akers Allen and the Profession of Poetry鈥欌�� in MLQ: A Journal of Literary History.
- 2011 鈥淭he Poetics of Bird-Defense, 1860-1918鈥� in Mike Chasar and Heidi Bean, eds., Poetry After Cultural Studies. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.
- 2011 鈥淭he Golden Age,鈥� in Philip Nel and Lissa Paul, eds., Keywords for Children鈥檚 Literature, NY: New York University Press, 96-99.
- 2010 鈥淎nimal Poems and Children's Rights in America, 1820-1890,鈥� in Morag Styles, et. al., eds., Poetry and Childhood. Stoke-on-Kent, UK: Trentham Books.
- 2010 鈥淟ongfellow鈥檚 Ghost: Writing Popular Poetry,鈥� in Blas Falconer, ed., Mentor and Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
- 2009 鈥淭he Milwaukee School of Fleshly Poetry: Ella Wheeler Wilcox and Popular Aestheticism,鈥� Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers.
- 2008 鈥淩aymond Carver鈥檚 Poetry and the Temperance Tradition,鈥� Raymond Carver Review.
- 2007 鈥淪ymmetrical Womanhood: Poetry in the Woman鈥檚 Building Library,鈥� Libraries and Culture.
- 2007 "Approaches to Teaching the Schoolroom Poets," in Paula Bennett and Karen Kilcup, Approaches to Teaching Nineteenth-Century American Poetry. NY: Modern Language Association Press.
- 1999 鈥淧erforming Class: James Whitcomb Riley鈥檚 Poetry of Distinction,鈥� MLQ: A Journal of Literary History.
- 1998 鈥�St. Nicholas Magazine and the Poetics of Peer Culture, 1872-1900,鈥� American Studies.
Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction Publications (selected)
- 2019 "Big Rig," in New Ohio Review 25. Poetry
- 2018 鈥淟imn,鈥� in Feminist Studies. Poetry.
- 2017 鈥淭he Boring Side of the Family,鈥� in Tina Schumann, ed., Two-Countries: U.S. Daughters and Sons of Immigrant Parents. Los Angeles: Red Hen P. Poetry.
- 2017 鈥淓xercise,鈥� Poetry Northwest. Poetry.
- 2017 鈥淣o One Knows Where the Ladder Goes,鈥� The First Line. Fiction. Finalist, Best Small Fictions 2017.
- 2016 鈥淐ode Violations: Chicago Review in the 1990s,鈥� in Chicago Review. Creative nonfiction.
- 2014 鈥淪tranger Danger,鈥� Journal of the West 53 (4): 56-59. Creative nonfiction.
- 2014 鈥淢emo from the Center for Teaching and Learning,鈥� The Chronicle of Higher Education. Creative nonfiction.
- 2013 鈥淧aradise, Wisconsin,鈥� Barrow Street. Poetry.
- 2013 鈥淪ivka-Burka,鈥� 鈥淚nterstate,鈥� 鈥淎 is for Air,鈥� 鈥淣otes from a Northern State, Prairie Schooner Poetry.
- 2013 "A Walk Across the Ice," "Golden Spike," "Ink.鈥� Mesa, AZ: Superstition Review, 2013. Poetry.
- 2012 鈥淔allout,鈥� 鈥淲ide Boulevard, Tiny Apartment,鈥� Zone 3. Poetry.
- 2012 鈥淪topping At the Joyce Kilmer Rest Area On a Snowy Evening,鈥� North American Review. Poetry.
- 2011 鈥淐reating a Cone of Silence in China,鈥� The Chronicle of Higher Education. Creative nonfiction.
- 2011 鈥淪napshots of a Semester in China,鈥� The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 2, 2011. Creative nonfiction.
- 2011 鈥淭hrifting,鈥� Massachusetts Review. Poetry.
- 2011 鈥淧engyou,鈥� read by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on Weekend All Things Considered (NPR), April 2011. Fiction.
- 2010 鈥淪pill,鈥� Poets for Living Waters. Poetry.
- 2009 鈥淟ooking Backward: 2020,鈥� The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 1, 2009. Creative nonfiction.
- 2009 鈥淭he Suburban Mysteries,鈥� Jacket 38.
- 2009 鈥淟etter to Hugo from the Land of the Living,鈥� Babel Fruit. Poetry.
- 2009 鈥淔lyover State,鈥� Shepherd Express. Reprint.
- 2008 鈥淪ix Degrees of Separation,鈥� Willow Springs. Poetry.
- 2008 鈥淣ostalgia for the Present,鈥� 鈥淭wo Toyotas Crash,鈥� and 鈥淏reathing Out Smoke,鈥� Southern Review. Poetry.
- 2004 鈥淓mpire Builder鈥� in John Burnside, ed. Wild Reckoning: An Anthology Provoked by Rachel Carson鈥檚 鈥楽ilent Spring.鈥� Gulbenkian Foundation (UK), 2004. Reprint. Poetry.
- 2004 鈥淐atch and Release,鈥� Pinyon (2004): 18. Special issue on Norwegian poetry; in English, and translated into Norwegian (as 鈥淪lip og Fang鈥�) by Sandra Lee Kleppe. Poetry.
- 2003 鈥淕lossolalia鈥� in Diane Boller, et. al., eds. Poetry Daily: 366 Poems from the World鈥檚 Most Popular Website. Sourcebooks, 2003. Reprint; also appeared on the Poetry Daily website. Poetry.
- 2001 鈥淩eally Barely There,鈥� Born: Art and Literature Collaboration (2001): n.p. Art by Karen Ingram.
- 2000 鈥淚nsomnia鈥� and 鈥淭he Attic of the Attic,鈥� Portland Review. Poetry.
- 2000 鈥淟and of Lincoln鈥� and 鈥淭he Man Without a Middle,鈥� in America Poetry: The Next Generation. Jim Daniels and Gerald Constanzo, eds., Carnegie-Mellon University Press, 2000. Reprint. Poetry.
- 1998 鈥淟and of Lincoln,鈥� 鈥淩eally Barely There,鈥� and 鈥淜ate Fox,鈥� Third Coast. Poetry.
- 1996 鈥淲eather at Ten,鈥� North American Review. Poetry.
- 1995 鈥淢useum Piece,鈥� in Richard Howard, ed., Best American Poetry 1995, Simon & Schuster, 1995. Reprint. Poetry.
- 1994 鈥淢useum Piece,鈥� The Nation. Poetry.
Reviews and Review Essays:
- 2019 Review of Patricia Crane, Reading Children: LIteracy, Property, and the Dilemmas of Childhood in Nineteenth-Century America in American Literary History Review Series XX.
- 2017 Review of Denise Duhamel, Scald, in Chicago Review 60:4 (2017), 3 pp.
- 2016 Review of Donelle Ruwe, British Children's Poetry in the Romantic Era: Verse, Riddle, and Rhyme in Children's Literature Association Quarterly 40: 1 (Winter 2016), 420-422.
- 2015 Review of Claudia Stokes, The Altar at Home: Sentimental Literature and Nineteenth-Century American Religion. Modern Philology 113, 2 (November 2015): E112-E114
- 2015 Review of Mary Robson, Heart Beats: Everyday Life and the Memorized Poem. MLQ 76: 1 (March 2015): 212-214.
- 2014 Roundtable review (with Monika Elbert) of Anna Mae Duane, Suffering Childhood: Violence, Race, and the Making of the Child Victim. Journal of American Studies 48:1(February 2014): 1-9.
- 2010 鈥淚t's (Not) All Small Stuff: The Lion and the Unicorn Award for Children鈥檚 Poetry,鈥� with Michael Heyman and Joseph T. Thomas, in The Lion and the Unicorn 34 (September 2010): 354-363.
- 2009 Lively Rigor: the 2009 Lion and the Unicorn Award for Children鈥檚 Poetry,鈥� with Michael Heyman and Joseph T. Thomas, in The Lion and the Unicorn 33: 3 (September 2009): 376-396.
- 2008 Review of Joseph T. Thomas, Poetry鈥檚 Playground, in Children鈥檚 Literature 36: (2008): 245-247.
- 2008 鈥溾�榝rom the brain all the way to the heart鈥�: the 2008 Lion and the Unicorn Award for Children鈥檚 Poetry,鈥� with Richard Flynn and Joseph T. Thomas, in The Lion and the Unicorn 32: 3 (September 2008): 344-356.
- 2008 Featured essay review of Joan Shelley Rubin, Songs of Ourselves, American Historical Review 113 (April 2008): 449-451.
- 2007 鈥淢essage in a Bottle: the 2007 Lion and the Unicorn Award for Children鈥檚 Poetry,鈥� with Richard Flynn and Joseph T. Thomas, The Lion and the Unicorn 31 (2007): 264-281.
- 2007 Review of Christopher Irmscher, Longfellow Redux, in New England Quarterly, 80:1 (March 2007): 40-41.
- 2006 Review of Joel Scott and Matthew Pace, eds., Wordsworth in American Literary Culture, in European Romantic Review 11:4 (2006): 502-507.
- 2004 Review of James Guthrie, Above Time: Emerson鈥檚 and Thoreau鈥檚 Temporal Revolutions, in M/MLA Journal 37:1 (Spring 2004): 117-118.
- 2001 Review of J.D. McClatchy, Twenty Questions: Posed by Poems, in M/MLA Journal 34: 3 (Autumn, 2001): 89-91
- 1999 Review of Elizabeth Arnold, The Reef, in Chicago Review 49: 2 (1999): 137-139.
- 1996 Review of Lynne Crosbie, VillainElle, in Chicago Review, 42:2 (1996): 117-119.
- 1996 Review of Fatima Lim-Wilson, Crossing the Snow Bridge, in Chicago Review,42:1 (1996): 88-89.
- 1995 Review of Lawrence Graver, An Obsession with Anne Frank: Meyer Levin and the Diary, in Chicago Review 41:4 (1995): 142-144.
- 1995 Review of Natasha Saj茅, Red Under the Skin, in Chicago Review 41:1 (1995): 97-98.
Honors and Awards
- Won Outstanding Achievement in Poetry award (for The Sleeve Waves), Wisconsin Library Association, 2015
- Won the 2013 Felix Pollak book prize for poetry from the University of Wisconsin Press, selected by Naomi Shihab Nye. Book forthcoming March 2014.
- NEH grant (in collaboration with Sarah Wadsworth) from the American Library Association for an outreach project titled Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women. 2011.
- Brittingham Prize for poetry manuscript Bird Skin Coat, 2008.
- Honor Book Prize, Children鈥檚 Literature Association, 2007
- Summer Faculty Fellowship, 蜜桃影像, 2006.
- Schlesinger Library Fellowship, Harvard University, 2005.
- Vivian Pollak Scholar-in-Amherst Award, Emily Dickinson International Society, 2003
- Urban Studies Institute Course Development Grant, 蜜桃影像,2003.
- Summer Faculty Fellowship, 蜜桃影像, 2002.
- Korzenik Fellowship, Longfellow Friends, 2002.
- 蜜桃影像 PT-3 Grant, 2001.
- Linfield College Faculty Fellowship, 1998.
- Stuart Tave Fellowship, University of Chicago, 1996.
- Discovery/The Nation (writing) Prize, The Nation and the Poetry Center of the 92nd Street 鈥淵,鈥� 1994.
- Brauer Grant, 鈥淓ducating Emily Dickinson,鈥� University of Chicago, 1994.
- John Fiske Poetry (writing) Prize, University of Chicago, 1993.
Additional Information
Office Hours
Spring 2025
- Tues 9:30-11:00
- Wed 10:00-12:30
Teaching Schedule
Spring 2025
- 3249/101 Tues 6:00-8:30 David Strauz CN141
- 4988/101 TuTh 8:00-9:15
- Practicum in Literature and Language Arts
Dr. Angela Sorby蜜桃影像
