02:30P-03:45P TR (30) 3 cr.
Ralph Waldo Emerson in his 1844 essay The Poet said, "Oregon and Texas are yet unsung. Yet America is a poem in our eyes: its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres." This course will look at the range of the American imagination as embodied in the poetry of the 20th century. We will focus on the strategies and approaches American poets have used to redefine notions of what poetry is through free verse, surrealism, performance art, and "found poetry." We will start out by reading Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Working chronologically we will take on some of the major modernists poets, such as Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, T.S. Eliot, Langston Hughes, and Marianne Moore. We'll read the work of poets writing after World War II. Finally, we will take a look at American poetry at the end of the century. Course requirements will include two papers, a midterm exam, and a final exam.