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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