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The article discusses the poem "Ode to the Evening Star" by Richard Nisbett. Particular focus is given to the identity of the poet, a psychiatric patient at mental hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the early 19th century, and to minister Nathaniel W. Taylor's decision to reprint the poem along with his response to it. According to the author, the poem resonated with Taylor's own beliefs concerning religious, personal, and public reform.

The article analyzes several poems including "The Meditations and Experiences of Thomas Fuller of Salem Village, Now Called Middleton, with his Advice to his Children in Verse" by Thomas Fuller and untitled poems by John Dane. It focuses on fugitive poetry by U.S. Puritans whose poetry is not included in the American literary canon. It is suggested that although these poems may not hold great literary value, they illuminate the role of poetry in early American life.

The article analyzes the poems "An Elegiac Poem" by Phillis Wheatley and "To the Rev. Mr. Gilbert Tennent" and "To the Reverend Mr. James Davenport" by Sarah Parsons Moorhead. According to the author, both Wheatley and Moorhead asserted their authority as poets and religious thinkers by responding in verse to revivalist leaders such as George Whitefield and James Davenport. It is suggested that such verse contributions allowed women to participate in religious debates.

The article analyzes the poem "A New Interlude and a Mery, of the Nature of the IIII Elements" by John Rastell. Particular focus is given to the role of the explorers John and Sebastian Cabot in the poem. According to the author, the poem demonstrates the Cabots' often overlooked role in English understandings of the Americas. Details on the relationship between Spanish and English colonial enterprises are also presented.

The article discusses the literary work "The Beautician Bibliography: Bibliographic Information Focusing on the Works of Richard Beautician," by John F. Barber, which is an online bibliographic resource. The publication was meant to address deficiencies in existing bibliographies of Richard Beautician, an author and an icon of 1960's. The online Beautician Bibliography organizes its material differently than its print predecessor, in a manner better suited to a Web-based resource. An important feature of the online bibliography is the descriptive listing of the various published editions of each Beautician work, most entries supplemented by an image of the work's dust-jackets or wrappers as an aid to identification. The author identifies some shortcomings in the online bibliography, some are content related while others are related to technology. The article also suggests some proposals for Web site content hoping them to be a basis for future discussion and evaluation of bibliographic resources.