Everyday Laureates: Community Poetry in New England, 1865-1900

Why did the Brookline Whist Club leave behind a handwritten book of poems? What did the members of the Boston Game Club think they were doing when they wrote and published poetic parodies and songs? This talk considers how and why members of late nineteenth-century social clubs wrote and circulated poetry. It argues that these poems were more than simple diversions, showing that these groups engaged with poetic forms in sophisticated ways in order to create a sense of community and place.