Joshua S. Lewis

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT JOSHUA S. LEWIS

Joshua delivered an hour lecture on Poe\'s poem,\"The Raven,\" based on his own research, and earlier tested in the interesting setting of the Poe Museum in Richmond with those who had a special interest in Poe\'s life and work. The lecture was clear, focused, and accessible to the students, as well as very interesting to me. It furthered our attempt in the class to interpret the creative element in the search of an artist for the meaning of life, and a way of conveying that meaning to others. Every minute of the lecture was well spent, from a dramatic reading of the poem, Joshua\'s own movement from passage to passage with the students, question and answer exchanges with the students regarding the meaning of the text, and finally the assigning of an essay to be written by the students as a response to the poem, the discussion, and the topic generally. The students brought that essay to a later meeting of the class and Joshua took the sheaf of essays home and evaluated their work, their understanding of the poem, and their sense of its role within the wider theme of the class. I then read the student essays and the comments Joshua had written on their papers. Not only were the comments cogent to the student writing and thoughts, they were encouraging to each student, picked out the chief contributions of each, and sensitively led each in directions that would serve them well in their future work. Joshua praised the best in each, and suggested further insights that might well help each in future interpretive tasks. I was very impressed by the entire process I would easily agree to having Joshua give further lectures in my classes.\" Dr. Cliff Edwards, Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University