Cowley was born in Belsano, Pennsylvania. This is a page put up by citizens of the area. How does it differ from the brief biography in your textbook? Why do you think the emphasis is different?

This hyperlinked biography of Cowley offers a photo, some bibliographical information, and some excerpts of his work. If you had to choose this one or the one above to use in your class work, which one would it be and why?

For a “through-the-looking-glass” approach, read these excerpts of Cowley’s Exile’s Return, which he wrote while he was in his twenties. Can you discern a different point of view here, compared to that expressed in the reading in your text?

Looking for a quotation by Cowley? If you click here, you'll find several.

Let’s approach “Temptations of Old Age” by considering a few issues commonly associated with aging: One topic often associated with aging is euthanasia. Would you like to write a paper about the euthanasia debate, but feel unsure how to narrow such a topic? Take a look at this directory from Yahoo.com on the subject and you’ll get plenty of good ideas.

Let’s say you’ve decided that ageism is a topic worthy of researching. This collection of essays on the topic from the American Association of Retired People (AARP) is a good place to start.

Alzheimer’s Disease is another issue closely connected to aging, but it’s a vast topic. MedlinePlus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Insti-tutes of health, has put together this excellent start page to help you along with your research.

Type in the phrase “anti-aging” in a search engine like Google. Before you hit “search,” though, guess how many hits you’ll get. How many hits did you get? What do you think the number suggests about interest in this issue? How can you charac-terize them? Which would be appropriate to use in your studies, and which wouldn’t?