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Recent Posts
- post #5, concluding the Preface to my book in progress, _Upcycling Ecopoetry_
- post #4 in the series, from the preface to my book in progress, Upcycling Ecopoetry
- post #3 in the series, from my book in progress Upcycling Ecopoetry
- Post #2 in the series, from the preface to Upcycling Ecopoetry
- Post #1 in a series, all from the preface of my book in progress, _Upcycling Ecopoetry_
Recent Comments
- ankara bo?anma avukat? on On the Game of Thrones title sequence
- Fireborn on Some Reasons Why Daenerys Targaryen’s Character Is Even Better in Game of Thrones Than in Song of Ice and Fire
- Daniel Bosch on Daniel Bosch on Daisy Fried’s poem “Torment”
- Amy on What Should I Do With the Dead Turk in the Bedroom? Class, Sex, and Otherness in Downton Abbey
- Rahul Shayar on On the Game of Thrones title sequence
Pages
- About Me
- Akwete Weave poetry chapbook
- Digital Humanities Projects
- Ecotone // poems by Peter Schmidt // wondering through the natural world …
- Engl 009H “Portraits of the Artist” — an introduction to literary and cultural studies for first-year students.
- English 116 American Literature Honors Seminar, Fall 2014: the Literature of the U.S. South
- English 52A (U.S. Fiction, 1900-1950)
- English 52B, U.S. Fiction 1945 to the Present. Swarthmore College, Fall 2017.
- English 53: Modern American Poetry
- English 53R: Advanced Research Topics in U.S. Literature
- English 71B: The Lyric Poem in English (Fall 2013)
- English 71D: The Short Story in the U.S. (Fall 2018)
- Online Essays
- Pocketa Pocketas (pulses & pips of poems)
- Publications
- “Truth so mazed”: Faulkner and U.S. Plantation Fiction
- A review-essay on William Carlos Williams’ _By Word of Mouth: Poems from the Spanish, 1916-1959_
- A selection of older print and digital scholarly work
- On Eros Crossing the Color-Line in William Faulkner and Margaret Mitchell
- On Optimists’ Sons and Daughters: Eudora Welty’s The Optimist’s Daughter and Peter Taylor’s A Summons to Memphis
- Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus
- The “Raftsmen’s Passage,” Huck’s Crisis of Whiteness, and _Huckleberry Finn_ in U.S. Literary History
- Selected Courses
- SPLEEN poetry chapbook: pissed-off poems for a pissant age.
- Very Large Array // a poetry collage project by Peter Schmidt (1990-2000)
- Very Large Array project
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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Could these 2 L. Frank Baum stories from 1910 be witty allegories about race, colonialism, and immigration?
These two chapters involving Dorothy and her friends are from Baum’s sequel to The Wizard of Oz (1900), The Emerald City of Oz (1910). Chapter 12, “How They Matched the Fuddles,” and Chapter 17, “How They Came to Bunbury.” Use … Continue reading
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Seems a good time to read some C. P. Cavafy
Candles The days of the future stand in front of us Like a line of candles all alight—Golden and warm and lively little candles. The days that are past are left behind, A mournful row of candles that are out; … Continue reading
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., on the values of literature
Amen, brother! Read this talk of his. I’m also struck by the contrast between this essay in the NYTimes Book Review (Oct. 31) and Marjorie Perloff’s depressing and deluded essay in a recent issues of the LA Review of Books … Continue reading
Donald Rumsfeld Tries to Enter Into Heaven
(as retold later by the Devil) … into the known unknown or maybe it’s an unknown unknown Donald comes to the Gates unrepentant. A large book swings open hard to see the pages but it seems they hold long lists … Continue reading
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download Ecotone and/or Spleen (my 2 new poetry chapbooks)
Ecotone // 14 poems by Peter Schmidt, about wandering through the natural world … A downloadable pdf, from Pixel Press / Swarthmore You may also download SPLEEN (political poems protesting + reimagining the fate of society and nature). =====For either or … Continue reading
On Contradictions in Nathaniel Rich’s “Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change.”
Nathaniel Rich’s issue-long essay in this week’s New York Times Magazine receives a title worthy of a play: “Losing Earth: The decade we almost stopped climate change. A tragedy in two acts.” It’s definitely worth an hour or two of … Continue reading
Garbage In / Garbage Out: Why is Facebook Using Its Powerful Resources To Help Teachers Teach Bad Common Core Standards In AP English Classes?
Facebook on its Summit Learning Resources Site for K-12 English & Language Arts teachers is now promoting ready-made lesson plans for teaching Common Core standards. Sounds good, right? But many of the lesson plans are screwed up because so many … Continue reading
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On Canons and “Headcanons” in Cultural Studies
Yes, “headcanons” (one word) is a term. Has been for awhile. Interesting conundrum: while the idea of an agreed-upon “canon” has been treated with increasing skepticism in literary studies (though not by all parties), the concept thrives in popular culture, … Continue reading
Why Judith Butler is Overrated
One of many reasons why Judith Butler is grossly overrated: Here’s a passage from her new book Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly, followed by 2 brief comments of mine, one a translation of Butler-ese into regular English. Overall, … Continue reading
On Colson Whitehead’s new novel, _The Underground Railroad_
Three chapters of Colson Whitehead’s new novel, The Underground Railroad, were published as a special print supplement to last Sunday’s New York Times (Aug. 7). What’s so extraordinary about the novel’s vision is not that he makes the “underground railroad” … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Uncategorized
Tagged Afrofuturism, fiction, slavery, underground railroad, whitehead
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