ENG 205-004: Poetry (Fall 2012)

Content: What is poetry, anyway?  This section of English 205 will begin with that basic question, considering a variety of simple and more complex possibilities as well as various definitions in prose and verse.  Using the lively anthology Western Wind, ed. Mason and Nims, we will examine the special and peculiar ways that poetry uses language (the English language) to complicate communication, intensify emotion, and heighten perception.  We’ll go on to consider the visual impact of poems (including concrete poetry), the sound or acoustic effect of poems (including song lyrics and instrumentation), and the kinds of meaning poems are able to convey to their readers (including deliberately obscure or nonsense verse).  We’ll look at new poems and contemporary poets (from The Best American Poetry 2011, ed. Kevin Young), then turn our attention to classic examples from ancient and modern literary traditions.  Students will be asked to participate actively in discussion, to write six papers and to try their hand at writing two poems of their own.