This website features poems that speak to the diversity of experience on the Great Plains, especially Nebraska, with related scholarly essays and pedagogical resources.

This website features poetry that explores topics central to Nebraskans and other residents of the Great Plains. Nebraska is a state with a rich cultural and natural heritage, firmly situated in the center of the Great Plains ecosystems, the history of migration and conflict between European and Native peoples, the rise of modern agriculture, and the current rise of metropolitan communities. All of these provide ideas for Nebraska poets.

The website is organized around individual poets whose writing is centered on some aspect of Nebraskan experience. The Nebraska State Poets and Nebraska Poet Laureate are presented, since their voices have been officially designated as representing Nebraska.  Additional poets provide examples of the diversity of poetry writing grounded in Nebraska geography and culture. These poets each approach crucial elements of Nebraska’s rich heritage in their work, as the scholarly material for each one explains.

In addition to selected poems and biographical information about the poets, the site provides short essays about the regional issues addressed and raised by the poems.  These essays are written by scholars primarily at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, connected to the Department of English, the Center for Great Plains Studies, and the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities.  Additionally, in the “Resources” section, the site provides teaching resources for educators using these poems, along with a variety of links to some other poets and projects active in Nebraska.

Site Goals:

To showcase poets whose work addresses Nebraskan and Great Plains experience.

To provide a resource for scholarly research on Nebraska poetry.

To provide a resource for schools, libraries, and community groups interested in poetry on the Great Plains.

To inspire an emerging generation of new writers from the region.

Poetry from the Plains: A Nebraska Perspective is supported by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center for Digital Research in the Humanities and by Humanities Nebraska.