American Poetry Tour: Visit the Places Poets Called Home
From Emily Dickinson’s Massachusetts birthplace to Paul Laurence Dunbar’s house in Dayton, Ohio, these destinations inspired some of poetry’s greats.
In its complex and turbulent history, its contradictions, and even its sheer vastness, America often defies attempts to be captured in writing. In “Song of Myself,” when Walt Whitman says “I am large, I contain multitudes,” he embodies a particularly American spirit — an identity defined by immeasurable variety. Carl Sandburg also recognized the difficulty of defining such a vast nation, when he said that he would “probably die propped up in bed trying to write a poem about America.”
One way that I think we can better understand America is through its poetry and the places that informed its greatest poets. It’s powerful to experience firsthand the places they called home, and around the United States, people have dedicated their lives to preserving the legacies and living spaces of some of the country’s most important voices. Whether you’re an aspiring poet, an interested reader, or simply someone trying to figure out what America is about, the destinations on this poetry tour can hopefully help illuminate something you’ve been looking for.
The Langston Hughes House
Harlem, New York City, NY
Langston Hughes was a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance, a black and cultural and artistic movement during the 1920s. Hughes chronicled the black experience in America, celebrating working-class residents of Harlem and fusing the rhythms of jazz into his poetry, which he saw as “the tom-tom revolt against weariness in a white world.”
The Langston Hughes House, the Harlem brownstone where Hughes lived for the last 20 years of his life, is now home to the nonprofit I, Too Arts Collective. In 2016, when the house went up for sale, the collective’s founder, Renée Watson ran a crowdfunding campaign to start leasing and renovating it. They now use it as a space for young artists from underrepresented communities to create work together. Visitors can see Hughes’s typewriter, piano, and a small display of his writings. They can also take from or contribute to the communal book pile in the entrance of the house. The collective frequently hosts events, from talks with authors to poetry readings to open workshops. Hughes loved mentoring other artists, so it’s fitting that his home today is being used to help grow the creators of tomorrow.
Favorite Hughes poems:
Emily Dickinson Museum
Amherst, MA
Born in 1830 in Amherst, Emily Dickinson was known within her community as an eccentric recluse who seldom left her bedroom. However, by 1865 she had written more than 1,100 lyric poems that examine a range of human experiences, from grief to faith to immortality, and that can often be identified by their songlike meter and frequent use of dashes and capitalization. She mostly kept her poetry to herself, but after her death her life’s work was discovered in little hand-sewn books.
The Emily Dickinson Museum consists of two historic houses: the Homestead, her birthplace and home, and the Evergreens, home to her brother, Austin. Beyond attending poetry discussion groups and open mic nights hosted by museum staff, visitors can step into the bedroom where Dickinson penned almost all of her poetry and see, as the museum’s public relations coordinator Emily Lackey puts it, “the spaces that meant the most to Emily during her life.” Dickinson’s signature long-sleeved white dress is on display near her bed, and the small writing desk where she worked well into the night overlooks the yard. Exploring the grounds, visitors can understand the lasting appeal of Dickinson’s writing. In the words of Lackey, it “transcends the lines that normally divide us and speaks directly to the human experience, regardless of which decade or century you find yourself in.”
Favorite Dickinson poems:
The Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum
Lynchburg, VA
Born to former slaves in 1882, Anne Spencer discovered her love for poetry during her years at school. Shaun Hester, the poet’s granddaughter and the executive director of the Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum, said that Spencer “wrote about the things she loved, and not about the things she hated.” This spirit of love manifested itself in her welcoming of prominent black leaders and intellectuals into her home during a time when black people weren’t permitted to stay at hotels in Lynchburg.
According to Hester, Spencer felt most at home in her beautiful garden, and it’s open every day to the public. The house, which is almost completely original, is available for tours by appointment. The details of the home not only provide a window into who Spencer was, but also serve as a time capsule of those who passed through its halls. “When I come here every day, I think about whose footsteps I’m walking in,” Hester said. “Not just my grandmother’s and ancestors, but the greats from that period of time.”
Favorite Spencer poems:
Paul Laurence Dunbar House Historic Site
Dayton, OH
Despite financial hardships, Paul Laurence Dunbar became a writer against all odds, publishing his first collection, Oak and Ivy, in 1893. Even though he became known by his primarily white readership for his poems written in dialect he also wrote poetry that depicted black life in America and criticized the spread of racial prejudice in the post-Civil War era. He rose to international fame for his efforts and was able to purchase the Dayton house that now bears his name in 1904 for his mother. They lived there together until his death in 1906.
Visitors to the Dunbar house today note how it’s almost as if he never left. That’s because when Dunbar passed away, his mother didn’t allow anyone to enter his room or study, which means that most of his belongings remain very well preserved. His typewriter, shoes, and other possessions are all arranged now as they were during his life. The house is open three days a week, with free admission and guided tours. A visitor’s center on Edison Street just around the corner provides more context and insight into Dunbar’s life and prolific career as a truly self-made writer.
Favorite Dunbar poems:
Robinson Jeffers’ Tor House
Carmel, CA
After traveling across Europe during his college years, Robinson Jeffers sought refuge on the rocky California coast in Carmel with his family. Stone by stone, he constructed Tor House and Hawk Tower, a small home and a tower retreat built to withstand the ocean wind. Jeffers did most of his writing at home, so the structures that he built and the wilderness around them figure heavily in his work. His philosophy — “inhumanism” — called for a shift in emphasis from the human to the nonhuman. In his poem “Carmel Point,” he writes, “We must unhumanize our views a little, and become confident as the rock and ocean that we were made from.”
Tor House itself is an extension of the landscape around it, made up of stones pulled from the small cove below the house. The three-story Hawk Tower stretches toward the sky alongside the house, keeping quiet watch over the former poet’s home. Visitors can climb its narrow steps to look out over the same expanse of ocean as Jeffers once did. Tours of the property are available, but reservations are required.
Favorite Jeffers poems:
About the author: Jenna Garden is a senior studying English at Stanford and a content strategy intern at Airbnb. She loves talking about poetry, sustainability, and how we can make the world a better place.
