Native American poetry

Today we talked about representations and perceptions of Native Americans in contemporary culture. We listed stereotypes, and discussed classifications of “popular” Native American figures into groups such as the “noble savage,” the “helpmate,” and the “demonic savage.” We read one of Mark Turcotte’s poems as an expression of intra-racial racism, or perhaps just the tensions [...]

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Poetry of War

Last Thursday we revisited the sonnet form and saw how the British WWI poets adapted this to their own expressive needs. We read works by Owen, Sassoon, and Rosenberg, looking for evidence of the war experience in these texts. Placing these works into context, we discussed the “innovations” of the Great War, including trench warfare, [...]

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the Harlem Renaissance

Last Tuesday we several well known poems from the Harlem Renaissance. We discussed how and why these poets chose to write in the sonnet form, among others. Also, students presented on African-American Criticism, and we discussed aspects of this, such as the role of double-consciousness among black writers, racism vs. racialism, and intra-racial racism.

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Metaphysical Poetry

Today we began with a presentation on poets John Donne and Andrew Marvell, and looked at the metaphysical qualities of three of Donne’s sexier poems (remember– the term “metaphysical poet” is coined by Samuel Johnson, who believed that these poets violently yoked together dissimilar images!) We discussed his use of conceits, specifically in “A Valediction [...]

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Unsuccessful love songs and marriages

Tuesday in class we talked about different permutations of voice(s) and speaker(s) in poetry, beginning with William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience. We compared the voices of the “Bard” and the “Piper” from these selections and viewed Blake’s own engravings for his poetry collections. Next we read through Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” and [...]

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