Shakespeare’s Subversive Poetry: A Study of his Narrative Poems, Sonnets, and Love Lyrics

Three credits · Undergraduate

Shakespeare’s poetry breaks with tradition by rejecting the formal, thematic, and mythical conventions of the past. Here we find inversions of gender roles, including aggressive and seductive heroines; lengthy and entirely empathetic portrayals of victims of sexual violence; and provocative meditations on love that have gone wildly out of control. These poems focus on the complex nature of human desire in a manner that anticipates our own plight in the modern world. Prerequisite: ENGL 100 or 111 or equivalent. Three credits.