The Citizen Poets of Boston: A Collection of Forgotten Poems, 1789–1820

Decades before Longfellow told the story of Paul Revere’s ride, before Poe published his "Dream within a Dream" in a newspaper on Tremont Street, before Emerson and Whitman took their famous stroll around Boston Common, a generation of poets, now mostly forgotten, created an intimate and interactive literary culture in Boston. Recovered by a 3-year, Boston College project in which small groups reviewed about 4,500 poems published in 59 literary magazines, works by these mostly anonymous writers have just resurfaced in The Citizen Poets of Boston: A Collection of Forgotten Poems, 1789–1820. Its editor, BC professor Paul Lewis, and members of the research team will discuss the project and read from the book.