Studies in a Twentieth-Century Genre
Term 2
MWF, 1:00 -2:00 p.m.
This course will explore the development, importance and popularity of the long poem originating with Homer and Dante and continuing with Whitman, Browning, Pound, T.S. Eliot, Hart Crane, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Allen Ginsberg, James Merrill, and Anne Carson. Attention to the structure and theme of long works will complement such questions as why long poems, what do they accomplish, do they succeed, why are they important and why do poets continue to write them?
Background reading: Selections from The Odyssey, The Divine Comedy
