The Long Poem
Course Description
Summary
This course will track the development of the long poem and extended poetic sequence as a poetic form in 20th and 21st century poetry. While the long poem does not have a narrow, succinct definition and can refer to many types (and lengths) of writing from sonnet cycle to verse novel, long poems are often associated with the ambition to write an iconic, all-encompassing, be-all end-all lyric or iconic text, allowing a writer to be encyclopedic and maximalist in how they see the world, to communicate a world view or indulge in obsessive world-building. As we read and try to arrive at some understanding of this form's shared characteristics, we will consider what it means to write a contemporary epic, a single text that tells a history or encompasses the values of an entire culture. Our readings may include T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland, Vladimir Mayakovsky's "A Cloud in Trousers," Rilke's "Duino Elegies," Gwendolyn Brooks's "The Anniad," Howl by Allen Ginsberg, alphabet by Inger Christensen, Garbage by A.R, Ammons, Citizen by Claudia Rankine, and long or book-length poems by Timothy Donnelly, Maggie Millner, Shane McCrae, Rusty Morrison, Tommy Pico, Robyn Schiff, Juliana Spahr, Hannah Sullivan, and Monica Youn. Through the semester, each of us will attempt to write the first draft of our own long poem. Additionally, we will write a critical paper of 8-10 pages and attempt a creative reworking of one of the long poems discussed.
Learning Outcomes
- Through this course we will learn how to approach reading and discussing a booklength work of poetry, consider the various implications of writing a maximalist poem that insists on resisting closure, stretch our paradigm of what forms a poem can take, read closely, think critically, work on our analytic writing, and attempt to craft the longest poem we've ever tried to write. We will also read a significant amount of modernist, late 20th century, and contemporary verse.
Prerequisites
All interested students must submit a statement of interest and a poetry writing sample of 4-6 pages by May 9 via the following form:
Students will be notified of acceptance into the course by May 13.
Corequisites
Students are required to attend all Literature Evenings and Poetry at ¿ÐýÃŹÙÍø events this term, commonly held at 7pm on most Wednesday evenings.