Proposed Graduate Course

Twentieth Century American Poetry

rationale

The course seeks to chart the trajectory of twentieth-century American poetry from modernism of the 1920s-40s, through contemporary poetry of the 1950s-70s, and into Language poetry of the 1970s-90s. Students will not only learn the poet's and poetics' relationship to the period, but how the spirit of the age changes from the beginning to the end of the century. The poetic debates of the century will be continued in class discussion, and students will be introduced to other scholars' perspectives through presentations of critical overviews. Students will write short papers on a particular poet and her relationship to a particular movement within the period, as well as a research paper that allows them to rigorously question how a Language poet reacts to prior poets and periods.

 

required texts

Nelson, ed., Anthology of Modern American Poetry

modern (20s-40s)

Eliot

Hughes

Pound

Stein

Stevens

Williams

Zukofsky

contemporary (50s-70s)

Ashbery

Bishop

Baraka

Ginsberg

Lowell

Plath

Rich

Language (70s-90s)

Andrews

Bernstein

Dahlen

Hejinian

Howe, Susan

Silliman

Watten

recommended texts (on library reserve)

modern (20s-40s)

Bradbury and McFarlane, eds.

Brooker, ed.

Hoffman and Murphy, eds.
Kenner
Kolocotroni, et al, eds.
Libby

Miller

contemporary (50s-70s)

Altieri

Gardner

Kalstone
McCorkle

McDowell, ed.

Perloff

Vendler, ed.

Language (70s-90s)

Andrews and Bernstein, eds.

Bernstein

Perelman

Perloff

Quartermain

Silliman

Simpson

assignments