Poetry Eng5

Prerequisites

• - RISING JUNIORS

Course Description

• This course incorporates the study of poetry with the writing of poetry. We’ll begin with some contemporary writers, explore rhythm, rhyme, and the complex forms, particularly those from Asia and the Middle East, take two weeks to experiment with risks and new approaches, jump back in time to study several of America’s most celebrated voices, and close with a unit on spoken word. Along the way we’ll study poets ranging from Walt Whitman to Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Emily Dickinson to Jason Koo. We’ll also look closely at two full books by John Yau and Claudia Rankine as we imagine what our own final collections might look like. Perhaps most importantly, we’ll be focusing on your writing and the writing of your classmates past and present. As my former student Disi Chen once wrote, “This is not only a class where you write to express but also listen to learn. You’ll be surprised when you hear the poetry of others and realize that everyone has so much to say in so many different styles, you included.” Most Wednesdays will be devoted to workshops, and most Fridays will involve readings or recitations. Seven times during the course of the semester, I will comment on individual poems, and at the end of the term you will have an opportunity to collect and present your ten best poems in a chapbook. Three times during the course of the semester, you’ll memorize and recite a poem of your choice that is over twelve lines.