Poetry Unfettered

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

The English Romantic poet William Blake declared, "Poetry Fetter'd, Fetters the Human Race." This course explores this idea by providing an opportunity for students to deepen their understanding and appreciation of the power of poetic language - whether that is the power to "unfetter" perception and release the reader's mind into new understanding; the power to inspire social, cultural, or political change; or the power to give rich expression to fundamental human truths and experiences. This course is intended for English majors who are seeking additional foundation in and experience with the study of poetry, while also completing distribution requirements within the major. It is also intended for non-majors who would enjoy fulfilling Core Curriculum designations (LIT and WRIT) through a course on poetry. As we move through the semester, we will always be working to strengthen the ability to read poetry carefully and critically, form strong interpretations, and argue for those interpretations persuasively in both classroom discussion and writing. We will address the major poetic genres, a variety of poetic forms, and a range of literary concepts and devices, reading poems both individually and in groupings. The kinds of groupings we will study include poems that have been deliberately paired, including parodies; poems that are part of a particular volume; and poems clustered by poet. We will spend time thinking about the oral performance of poetry through different activities, including listening to recordings of poems, and thinking about the relationship between poetry and the image through works that engage with both media. We will read a variety of material, focusing especially on British and American poetry from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and also some contemporary poetry. Over the course of the semester we will try to understand why the poetry on our syllabus has spoken to readers over time, and how it might speak to us and about us.