The Haunts of Poetry
In this course, we’ll examine what haunts poetic form—the preoccupations and influences of individual poets—and the locations that poetry haunts—its engagement with physical landscapes and contemporary cultural concerns. We’ll stalk the corridors of literature, visiting the erotic elegies of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Romantic wanderers, fin-de-siécle decadent visions, the horrors of trench poetry, and living American writers. By examining poets’ responses to the writers who came before them, we’ll seek definitions of poetry that spring from within poetic traditions. We’ll also examine how arts like painting and music shadow poetry, haunting us through visual arrangements on the page and spoken sound. Our emphasis will be on understanding how and why the afterlives of experience find expression in verse.
Syllabus:
Course Description and Policies
Paper One Assignment
Paper Two Assignment
Paper Three Assignment
EEE noteboard
Calendar of Poetry Readings