English 26

Book List

See below.

Description

How can we become more appreciative, alert readers of poetry and at the same time better writers of prose? How do poems use language differently than other forms of expression? How do they know how to say things without actually saying them? This course attends to the rich variety of poems written in English,drawing on the works of poets from William Shakespeare to Elizabeth Bishop, John Keats to Gwendolyn Brooks, Emily Dickinson to Li-Young Lee. We will use exercises in listening to, reading aloud, performing and memorizing poems to familiarize ourselves with a number of different forms, including riddles, songs, sonnets, odes, villanelles, and ballads, while also engaging topics such as meter, rhyme, the poetic line, and figurative language. Through sustained discussions of individual poems and varied writing assignments, you will have the chance to explore some of the major periods, modes, and genres in English poetry and to expand the possibilities of your own writing.  

The texts will be available at University Press Books, on Bancroft Way.  

This will be a reading- and discussion-intensive course designed for prospective majors looking to understand poetry and learn how to write about it critically.