  We review the history and the current status of the understanding of the
processes that regulate Lyman alpha emission from star-forming galaxies. We
present some of the most recent results of our study to image local starburst
galaxies in the Lyman alpha emission line using the Advanced Camera for Surveys
on the Hubble Space Telescope. Particular attention is dedicated to our study
of the low-metallicity, dust-poor Blue Compact Galaxy ESO338-IG04. We discuss
some of our local observational results with reference to the interpretation of
results of high-redshift Lyman alpha surveys and recent simulations of the
detection properties of high-z Lyman alpha emitting objects performed by our
group.
