Fall 2017

Meeting time: Tu & Th 4–5:15
Meeting location: Callaway S103
Instructor: Marlo Starr
Contact: Marlo [dot] starr [at] emory [dot] edu
Office Hours: Email for an appointment (Peet’s Coffee)

Like popular perceptions of poet Emily Dickinson secluded in her attic, poetry is thought of as reclusive and not engaged with the “real world.” This course, designed to introduce students to poetry and poetic analysis, shows how poems interact with and are shaped by their historical moment. We examine how form impacts meaning and the various roles that poems play in their broader cultural landscape. Focusing primarily on 20th- and 21st-century works, we will employ close analysis to the text on the page while also exploring the Rose Library’s archival and rare book holdings. By engaging with primary source materials—such as correspondence, drafts, exchanges with editors, publishers, and other influences—we ultimately interrogate ideas of the lone author writing in a vacuum. Possible poets include: Lucille Clifton, Langston Hughes, Seamus Heaney, Craig Santos Perez, and Marlene NourbeSe Philip.

Header image: Cy Twombly, untitled (1961).