Songs of Ourselves

The Uses of Poetry in America

Joan Shelley Rubin

      Introduction

    Part I. The Poet in American Culture

    1. 1. Seer and Sage
    2. 2. Amateur and Professional
    3. 3. Absence and Presence
    4. 4. Sophisticate and Innocent
    5. 5. Celebrity and Cipher
    6. 6. Alien and Intimate

    Part II. Poetry in Place and Practice

    1. 7. Listen, My Children: Modes of Poetry Reading in American Schools
    2. 8. I Am an American: Poetry and Civic Ideals
    3. 9. Grow Old Along with Me: Poetry and Emotions among Family and Friends
    4. 10. God's in His Heaven: Religious Uses of Verse
    5. 11. Lovely as a Tree: Reading and Seeing Out-of-Doors
    • Coda: "Favorite Poems" and Contemporary Readers
    • Notes
    • Index
  • Cover: Songs of Ourselves
  • A photo of the author

Photo by Richard Baker

Joan Shelley Rubin is Professor of History at the University of Rochester.