Database of the Month: Grangers Poetry

Monthly Featured E-Resource: Grangers Poetry

Happy February! Are you looking for the perfect love poem? Try Columbia Granger’s World of Poetry, the online resource for thousands of full-text poems including biographical information about the poet. The database is searchable by poet, title, keyword and theme. Searching the word ‘valentine’ in the text, we found,

from Hamlet, IV,v (Ophelia sings)

‘Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day,   

All in the morning betime,

And I a maid at your window,

To be your Valentine.’ 

Go to our Database links at http://www.bhplnj.org/databases/ to find our full-text poetry database and dozens of other online resources for research, homework and entertainment.

This post is an excerpt from this month's library newsletter, The Buzz, which can be found on our website  http://www.bhplnj.org/buzz/  You can subscribe to the newsletter as a monthly email by emailing reference at bhplnj dot org. Put 'Sign up for the Buzz' in the subject line. We don't sell our email list and we won't email you more than once a month with the Buzz, well, maybe twice with corrections or additions.

                                             

Spring at the Berkeley Heights Public Library

Winter into Spring, 

a slide show made with Animoto's free video maker app for iPad.

Just a few weeks ago, the Berkeley Heights Public Library, and most of New Jersey, was covered in snow. Now spring is beginning to appear as a few intrepid daffodil shoots poke up through the bare, muddy ground. The days are getting a little longer and a little warmer.
I searched our 'Columbia Granger's World of Poetry' database for a poem to express the feeling of relief that the winter of 2013 - 2014 is over. I found hundreds of poems about spring and April. Willliam Leighton's 'April' tells it like it is, don't you think?

'Gusty March is dead and gone!

 April heard his parting sighs,

 Smiling through her tearful eyes

At the sweet days coming on.'

There's more to this poem. To find this and other poems by first line, last line, subject or poet, search the Granger's Poetry database from our  'Databases and Articles' webpage. Type in your Berkeley Heights Library barcode number at the prompt.

  MLA
Leighton, William. “April.” Columbia Granger's World of Poetry Online. 2014. Columbia University Press. 4 Apr. 2014.

[Originally posted on this blog in April 2014 ]

Decoration Day by H.W. Longfellow

Sleep, comrades, sleep and rest

On this Field of the Grounded Arms,

Where foes no more molest,

Nor sentry's shot alarms!

Ye have slept on the ground before,

And started to your feet

At the cannon's sudden roar,

Or the drum's redoubling beat.

But in this Camp of Death

No sound your slumber breaks;

Here is no fevered breath.

No wound that bleeds and aches.

All is repose and peace,

Untrampled lies the sod;

The shouts of battle cease,

It is the truce of God!

Flag on my front porch

Rest, comrades, rest and sleep!

The thoughts of men shall be

As sentinels to keep

Your rest from danger free.

Your silent tents of green

We deck with fragrant flowers;

Yours has the suffering been.

The memory shall be ours.

 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. “Decoration Day.” Columbia Granger's World of Poetry Online. 2012. Columbia University Press. 28 May. 2012. .

 

I found this poem by typing "Memorial Day" into the search box of 'Columbia Grangers World of Poetry', an online poetry resource available from the library's "Databases and Articles" page. In the U.S., Memorial Day was commonly called 'Decoration Day' until 1967. Searching Grangers yielded 70 poems, many full text. 

Watching '60 Minutes' tribute "Honoring Our Soldiers" last night put a human face on the wars the U.S. is waging now.  As the young soldiers struggled to describe their experiences, I thought about how poets, artists and authors have also attempted to express the feelings that wars evoke.

National Poem in Your Pocket Day

Lately much of the Reference Department's incoming email alerts us to the latest news about budget cuts to NJ libraries, so it was so much more fun to see an email pop up from our visiting NJ author, Robert Daniher. Bob's tone always seems to be upbeat and encouraging to aspiring authors and really to all of us, so take a look at his post:

"Thursday, April 29th is National Poem In Your Pocket Day. The concept is to select a poem that you love and carry it around with you in your pocket sharing it with others throughout the day. There are even national events held all around supporting the day where people can read poems out loud in front of others. This might be a little too much for some who are not used to public speaking. And let’s face it…who is?
This brings to mind a fun exercise for aspiring writers, and Poem In Your Pocket day is a perfect time to try it. Instead of carrying a poem you like to read, why not try writing a short one of your own. Just like reading different genres works to help you become a better overall writer, so does writing in different genres. Poetry is perfect for that. There are so many things you can do with it. You can write a colorful scene in a few lines that pinpoints a special moment, you can write a funny limerick or you can just write stream of consciousness and see where it takes you. You might be surprised with the outcome. Poetry is a very versatile form of literature. It lends itself to so many ways of expression and can really get the creative juices flowing.
I will sometimes write a poem if I am experiencing writer’s block. It’s a great way focus on another topic while remaining in the writer’s frame of mind. You might find that you enjoy it. So this April 29th try to write a poem of your own and then carry it around in your pocket. It will be more personal to you. Even if you think your poem stinks, you were courageous enough to try something new and best of all…you wrote!'

LINKS:
http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/406

From Poets.org: 'To pull poetry from your pocket every day of the year simply go to www.poets.org/m on any mobile device.'

Don't forget BHPL has Columbia Granger's World of Poetry online linked to "Remote Databases" on our homepage