Literary Histories (200-0-22)

Topic

Songs and Sonnets

Instructors

Susan E Phillips

Meeting Info

Parkes Hall 224: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM

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, Agbagi, Donne, Hughes, Sidney, Keats, McKay, Rosetti, Yeats, and Eliot.

Evaluation Method

Class attendance and participation required; two papers, short assignments, and discussion board posts.

Class Materials (Required)

The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 6th edition, eds. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, and Jon Stallworthy (ISBN: 978-0393679021, approximate cost: $80 new, 45-50 used, $25 rental); students may also use The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th edition, (ISBN: 978-0393979206), approximate cost: ~$10 used.

Text will be available at: Norris Center Bookstore.

Class Attributes

Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area