Dead Poets Society of America

Richard Hovey

Richard Hovey
Originally uploaded by Svadilfari

Ah Ha! Here is a much more intersting picture of the grave of Richard Hovey, Poet Laureate of the class of 1885. Love that lettering :) (From Flickr)

Elizabeth Akers Allen, Author of "Rock Me to Sleep"

Elizabeth Akers Allen, Author of "Rock Me to Sleep"
Originally uploaded by Brooklyn Bridge Baby

This is a mystery.....Other information about Akers says that she was cremated and that a memorial to her was put up by a friend, in Danielson, CT. I took a picture of that on the Grand Tour. See:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravelight/3916618851/in/set-72157622481142604/

So, I have asked the person who took this picture, a friend of mine, via Flickr, if she know if the ashes of Allen are actually buried in Valhalla.

Richard Hovey : Poet Laureate of Dartmouth Colleg

Richard Hovey
Originally uploaded by Svadilfari

Always a treat to find a new dead poet.

All-Saints Day & Documenting Our Dead Poets

Welcome if you have made it here through reading the excellent AP story about the Dead Poets Society of America!

Today is traditionally called All-Saints Day (or Reformation Sunday, if a Protestant)..and what a great day to remember our dead poets.

You can help document the graves of America's dead poets by sending pictures of graves to our public Flickr Collection. We also have three maps to show you where some poets are buried...We are in special need of people in California, Oregon and Washington to get out there and dig up your dead poets! So MANY waiting to be photographed.

New Dead Poets of Maine Pages

We've posted a new Page of the Dead Poets of Maine, as well as a new Photo Album and an interactive Dead Maine Poets Map to help folks locate the gravesites.

We will update them as people send in more documentation. It looks like the list is only about 40% complete, so Maine poets and photographers -- get to your cameras!

We're Looking for Gravediggers this Halloween!

The Dead Poets Society of America is looking for gravediggers this Halloween: people who will go out individually or in groups to take pictures of gravesites and/or to simply read poetry at a poet's gravesite.

C'mon, have a Dead Poets Bash on Halloween or All Saint's Day: the perfect time to remember our dead poets.

The details of where to send photos and videos are posted on our Help page.

New Literary Land Speed Record Set

Dedgar The PoeMobile and I have done it!

150 American poets in 90 Days!

That is traveling at a record speed of 1.66 graves per day, sustained over 23 States and 15,000 miles.

It was a long, strange, wonderful, amazing trip, and I'd like to THANK all the people I met and learned so much from .

Pictures of most of the 150 graves can be viewed at the Flickr Dead Poets Collection.

Great Video of Trip to Updike Grave

(Photograph Ben Hasty; Reading Eagle)

The reporters at the Reading Eagle did a great job of covering the DPSA's trip to the grave of John Updike. You can read the story and watch 3 informative videos.

50 New Pictures Added to Collection

50 new pictures of poets' graves -- taken on the last two Mad Dashes -- have been added to the DPSA Flickr Collection. It is a public group and there are plenty more graves to be documented, so what are you waiting for?

Needed: Gravediggers for Western Poets' Graves

The Western States have a great history of poetry as do those East of the Mississippi -- so the Dead Poets Society of America is calling on Westerners to help document your dead poets.

A new Western States DPSA Map has been started, giving the locations of poets' graves. Links to online pictures have been added for some, but we think it best to collect original pictures to document our bards.

Become a Gravedigger for the Dead Poets Society of America today!

What a great project for schools or for MFA Program students.

Please post pictures on the DPSA Flickr Collection

Third Street Cafe, Lexington KY

20090328_thirdstreet_069_70_tonemapped
Originally uploaded by Kamillionaire

This fabulous coffee shop and gift store was the site of the First Dead Poets Bash ever, which was held this past summer. Love those skulls on the wall, as they resemble the logo my sons made for DPSA. You can order those skulls for your event as well.

Celia Thaxter makes it 150!

I am waterlogged but full of joy, for my visit to Celia Thaxter's grave on the island of Appledore marks a milestone for the Dead Poets Society of America. Around 10 AM, after rocking and rolling for one hour on the Atlantic, I was led to the family grave plot of Celia Thaxter.

I also got to see her famous garden, and pick some flowers to dry to commemorate the journey. The island closes for the winter in one week so one of the island officials said picking some of the last blooms of the season couldn't hurt.

Reading some of Thaxter's poetry on the island where she lived was pretty cool. In the wind I thought maybe I could hear the voices of Longfellow, Emerson, Whittier and the many others who used to visit Celia on the island.

You can see a few of the pictures I captured at the Dead Poets Society of America Flickr Collection.

Favorite Poem Project

The videos associated with the Favorite Poem Project are some of the best mini-documentaries you can find online. The massive project was spearheading by Former US Poet Laureate, Robert Pinksy.

One of my favorite is the reading of Longfellow's "A Psalm of Life."

This particular video is kind of a benchmark for the DPSA's own "Favorite Dead Poet Project," which will be launched just as soon as our Grand Tour 2009 cemetery videos can be edited and uploaded. In the meantime, watch this video, and the others at the Favorite Poem Project. Well worth the time, and great for school if you teach.

Photos & Poetry Flickr Collection

12 St Peters Petersham
Originally uploaded by ferncott

There is a great collection of photos "mixed with" poetry at this Flickr group. http://www.flickr.com/groups/phoetry/pool/

What is Tombstone Art?

We've put up a page on Tombstone Art, with a definition of the newly-evolving art form.

The DPSA Web Page has examples of Tombstone Art.

Become a tombstone artist! Then post your pictures on the Flickr Dead Poets' Graves Collection.

High Seas and Rain Likely for Historic 150th Grave Visit

The weather says there is a 50/50 chance of rain tomorrow as I board a small craft and head to the island of Appledore, Maine.

It is the site of Celia Thaxter's famous garden, as well as the Leighton family grave site. If we do not get shipwrecked or have the trip cancelled, I will most likely have set a new Literary land speed record sometime around noon.

I am getting my rain gear together for the exciting trip.

149th Poet on Day 89

The Rev. Elijah Kellogg was a beloved pastor in Maine for many years. He took up writing books later in life and wrote poetry as well. There is not much about him to find online, but he is now going to be associated with the 149th Dead Poet on the Grand Tour 2009.

From a NYTimes article in 1887:

The Rev. Elijah Kellogg's life does not indicate that the rewards of literacy success are great. His books are exceedingly popular, and he is exceedingly poor. But for his friends, the good old man would really suffer.

DAY 88: #148 Rev. Timothy Flint

Yahoo....The poet and clergyman, Timothy Flint, was one of the first "Western" poets in US history. ("West" at that time was Midwest today).

He died on a visit to his boyhood State and was buried in Salem, MA.

We are setting our face like Flint to Appledore Island.

Tomorrow, we search for Elijah Kellogg, in Portland, Maine, and then we hope to set sail into literary history with a visit to Celia Thaxter's grave.

Nine "New" Dead Poets - Three to Go!

In the last two days -- drawing near to DAY 90 -- we've found NINE "new" graves. Of all the trips, this Last Mad Dead Poets Dash of 2009 has dug up the most obscure poets yet (taken as a group).

Of course Edward Taylor, our first visit, is the most famous early New England poet, but after that we entered the archives.

Henry Clay Work

Lydia Huntley Sigourney

Elizabeth Aker Allen

Theodore Tilton (Sued Henry Ward Beecher in adultery trial: ended up a well hung jury)

Charles Sprague - The Banker-Poet of Boston

Nathaniel Willis (friend of the Frogpondians; from Maine)

Buckminster Fuller (few know he wrote poetry)

Richard Henry Dana

The Last Mad Dead Poets Dash of 2009

Right now I am in the middle of a two day Mad Dash to reach 11 graves. I will soon zoom into Boston to hopefully get Charles Sprague in Boston Commons. Then, off to Mt. Auburn again to find Buckminster Fuller and Nathaniel Willis.

Yesterday it was Edward Taylor, probably my favorite grave site of a poet.

Then it was on to Hartford for another fun experience of getting locked into a graveyard. Dedgar almost crashed through the gates.

This morning not only did I find Elizabeth Aker Allen, but there was another poet right next to her!

The last poet of today will hopefully find me back in Salem, to locate the grave of Rev. Timothy Flint....

This is the Last Mad Dash of the historic Summer tour and I already feel a let down that this journey is coming to an end.

Can't wait to get a grant and make it to Europe for the Great Dead Poets Tour of Europe 2010! (Maybe? Sounds good to me.)