Introduction to Poetry (211-0-01)
Instructors
Susannah Gottlieb
847/491-3091
University Hall 321
Meeting Info
Pancoe Building Abbott Aud: Mon, Wed 12:30PM - 1:50PM
Overview of class
The experience of poetry can be understood in it at least two radically different ways: as a raw encounter with something unfamiliar or as a methodically constructed mode of access to the unknown. Theories of poetry from antiquity to the present day have grappled with these two dimensions of the poetic experience. In order to understand a poem, a reader must, in some sense, enter into its unique and complex logic, while nevertheless remaining open to the sometimes unsettling ways it can surprise us. In this class, we will read some of the greatest lyric poems written in English, as we systematically develop an understanding of the formal techniques of poetic composition, including diction, syntax, image, trope, and rhythm. Students should come prepared to encounter poems as new and unfamiliar terrain (even if you've read a particular poem before), as we methodically work through the formal elements of the poetic process.
Teaching Method
Lectures, co-Labs, and weekly discussion sections.
Evaluation Method
Weekly (w)reading exercises; one 5-7 page paper; final project; final exam.
Class Materials (Required)
Course packet available at Quartet Copies and on Canvas.
Class Attributes
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
SDG Reduced Inequality
SDG Life On Land
Associated Classes
DIS - University Hall 018 English: Fri 12:00PM - 12:50PM
DIS - University Hall 118: Fri 12:00PM - 12:50PM
DIS - University Library 3622: Fri 12:00PM - 12:50PM
DIS - University Hall 318: Fri 1:00PM - 1:50PM
DIS - University Hall 018 English: Fri 1:00PM - 1:50PM
DIS - University Library 3722: Fri 1:00PM - 1:50PM