Grit City Think & Drink: English Ivy, Brought To You By Poe

Many yards in Tacoma are host to ivy and turf grass, although neither species is native to the area. This talk explores the role that Edgar Allan Poe’s landscape tales played in promoting them as essential to beautifying the American landscape

Ellen Bayer is an Assistant Professor of Literature at the University of Washington Tacoma, where she teaches courses in Environmental Literature and Nature Writing as well as in American Studies and Literature. Her research looks at how aesthetic theories and practices shaped, and continue to influence, the American landscape and our relationship with it. When she’s not conducting research or writing, you can find her running ridiculously long distances in the mountains.