Just as the name implies, this course will focus on reading, understanding, and appreciating poetry, with an emphasis on developing the essential skill of close reading. To do this, the main work of the course will be examining poems in great detail, analyzing the way their formal and thematic elements work together to create constellations of ideas and emotions too complicated to express in any other way. While the class will also consider poetic developments in a larger literary and historical context, our main focus will be on the poems themselves, with the goal of beginning to approach, in a verbal or prose description, an articulation of the complex and multifaceted way a poem works.

Readings will range widely over time, but 20th century American poetry will be the primary focus of our attention. This class meets the requirements for the W (Writing) credit, meaning that there will be a focus on academic writing skills and that assignments will include at least 10 pages of formal writing, with significant revision. Class participation will also comprise a major component of the final grade.

Required texts:

Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, Ed. Ramazani, et al., ISBN 978-0393324297