Literary Histories (200-0-20)
Topic
Songs and Sonnets
Instructors
Susan E Phillips
Meeting Info
University Hall 118: Mon, Wed 2:00PM - 3:20PM
Overview of class
Beginning with the sonnet craze in the late sixteenth century and ending with twenty-first-century reinventions and deconstructions of the sonnet, this course will explore questions of literary history by taking up the relationship between poetry and popular culture, investigating the ways in which poets draw on the latest trends in popular and literary culture and in turn the ways in which that culture incorporates and transforms poetry—on the stage, in music, and on the screen. Thinking of literary history as a set of conversations in verse across the centuries, we will consider how poets borrow from and respond to one another, experimenting with traditional forms and familiar themes to make the old new. In order to recognize and interpret this experimentation, we will first study those traditional forms, learning to read and interpret poetry. While we will be reading a range of poems in modern editions, we will be situating them in their social, historical, literary and material contexts, analyzing the ways in which these contexts shape our interpretation. Readings may include poetry by Shakespeare, Donne, Marlowe, Sidney, Spenser, Keats, Shelley, Williams, Stevens, and Eliot.
Teaching Method
Discussion.
Evaluation Method
Class attendance and participation required; two papers, short assignments, and an oral presentation.
Class Materials (Required)
The Norton Anthology of Poetry, eds. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, and Jon Stallworthy (ISBN: 978-0393679021, approximate cost: $80 new, 45-50 used, $25 rental).
Text will be available at: Norris Center Bookstore.
Class Attributes
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area