Poets on Poetry

How do poets think about poetry? How might their ideas differ from those of professional theorists and critics? In this course we will look at the variety of ways in which poets throughout history have written about their craft, from essays and letters, to poems, translations, and writing guides. In addition to discussing issues surrounding the theory, composition, and ethics of poetry, students will write poems of their own, according to the "rules" of famous poets like Edgar Allan Poe and John Keats. Authors may include Celan, Gander, Hayes, Horace, Lorde, Montale, Moore, Neruda, Pound, Shelley, Swensen.