What is RSS?

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." It allows you to be notified of new content appearing on a site without having to actually go there and check. Subscribing to RSS feeds is a handy way of collecting information of interest to you, particularly if there are a number of sites you visit regularly.

The content in an RSS feed is like a brief email message, and might include (for example) the title and summary of an article, and a link to the full text.

In order to receive RSS feeds, you need a piece of software called an RSS aggregator. Just as with email programs, there exist standalone software programs (which run on your computer) and web-based ones (which collect your RSS feeds on a personalized web site). Also, some web browsers now include native support for RSS feeds. Do a web search for "RSS Aggregator" or "RSS Feeds" to find a solution suitable for your setup.

If you have an aggregator available and would like to subscribe to poetryfoundation.org's RSS feed, click here. If you would like to subscribe to Harriet's (the blog) RSS feed, click here.

If you click our RSS Feed button and do not have an aggregator, you will see the software programming code that an aggregator would read. If you have a web-based RSS aggregator, there is no need to click the button on our site. Instead, just follow the instructions about how to subscribe in your web-based aggregator.