Brenda
Wineapple, a name already familiar in the literary world, was tapped to edit John Greenleaf Whittier: Selected Poems for
the Library of America's “American Poets Project.”
For
details, visit: http://www.americanpoetsproject.org/about
Wineapple's
edition of Whittier's poems has already garnered praise. She
has included a number of his less well-known works. By happenstance, she and
the poet share the same hometown – Haverhill, Mass. Perhaps that connection made Wineapple, Union's Doris Zemurray Stone Professor in
Modern Literary & Historical Studies, the best choice to write about the
poet's surroundings and other New
England
influences that formed his sensibilities.
“His
diction is easy, his detail rich and unassuming, his emotion deep,” she writes
of the poet whose Quaker beliefs bolstered his abolitionist stand. Readers may
be surprised to learn that Whittier – perhaps recalled from middle school
days as the creator of genteel bucolic poems – was also a highly visible,
passionate political activist at the forefront of the anti-slavery movement.
Initiated
in 2003, the project is a series of the “most significant American poetry,
selected and introduced by today's most discerning poets and critics.” Its goal
is to collect a comprehensive range of American poetic achievement in
economical (compact and affordable) volumes that explore a variety of themes,
genres, and eras.
The
LOA declares its “American Poets Project” an “exciting new series [that] takes
a fresh look at America's most enduring poetry.” And Newsweek wrote that the series is “the
most important book-publishing project in the nation's history.” To date, the
series has produced more than 130 volumes.
But
perhaps the highest accolade for Wineapple and all involved in the project is
the fact that all the volumes will be “kept permanently in print.”