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Wells receives NEH funding for "Poetry Wars" project

Meredith Utt '08
May 13, 2005

St. Olaf Associate Professor of English Colin Wells has received a National Endowment for the Humanities summer stipend to continue work on his project, "Poetry Wars in the Early Republic." Wells says that understanding this episode in American history will lead to better understanding of the evolution of "America" as a concept.

"During the Revolutionary and Early Republican periods in American history, the most gifted and best-known American poets engaged in a series of literary 'wars' against political leaders, journalists and each other -- all in the name of deciding the future course of the republic," explains Wells. "My book project will tell the story of this literary phenomenon in a comprehensive way, covering the period from about 1765 to about 1815."

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.