Course Description
An investigation of the connection between poetry and popular song in Great Britain and America, either in focus on songwriters/poets or on the relationship between popular musical forms and poetry or on the lyrics of English and American popular song from ballads to Broadway to the Beatles and beyond.
Athena Title
Poetry and Popular Song
Prerequisite
ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1103 or ENGL 1050H or ENGL 1060H
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
While this course will be taught in different ways depending on the interests and expertise of the instructor, all versions of the course will address the following learning objectives: -- Students will learn the relationship between poetry and popular song. -- Students will be exposed to the critical debate surrounding this topic. -- Students will learn to analyze and evaluate popular song lyrics with critical tools generally applied to canonical English and American poetry; or -- Students will learn to identify the presence and significance of popular music in canonical poetry or poetry that addresses itself primarily to an audience other than that found in the popular sphere. -- Students will learn to identify poetic devices such as rhythm and meter, structure, speaker, theme, alliteration and assonance, metaphor and simile, symbol, and image. -- Students will present fully developed written analyses incorporating knowledge of poetic devices as well as the specific contexts and cultures of the popular songs at the center of their study.
Topical Outline
As stated above, the course is adaptable and will be configured in various ways by various instructors. Inasmuch as "popular song" suggests the songs of the populace, some instructors may wish to investigate the relationship between Early English Ballads and the songs of the early English Stage (from Shakespeare to John Gay). Some may fashion a course around the work of poet and songwriter Robert Burns or around the hymns of Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts and their influence on poets such as William Blake and Anna Letitia Barbauld. Of course, many instructors will configure the course as one that highlights popular music of the twentieth century such as rock and folk. Some others may choose to focus on stage and screen musicals and the ability of poetry to convey and elaborate a dramatic narrative. Other instructors will focus on the lyrics of Rap and Hip Hop. And some may choose to explore the relationship between Jazz and Poetry. The following is a topical outline of a course focused on Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. 1. The Times: Review of the culture and concerns of the 1960s; Leonard Cohen's first books of poetry and ventures into fiction (influences of Keats and Joyce); Bob Dylan's Freewheelin' (influences of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie). 2. Changing: Songs of Leonard Cohen (The Canadian Bob Dylan); Dylan and Civil Rights (The Times They are a'Changing). 3. Spiritual Journeys: And the influence on the music and poetry. Dylan's Christian period; Cohen's search from Scientology to Buddhism. Judaism in the works of both. ("Along the Watchtower," Dylan; "Story of Isaac," Cohen). 4. Music Technology and Controversy: Electric Dylan and Cohen's "Wall of Sound." 5. Masterworks: Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and Cohen's "Hallelujah." 6. Touring and the creation of the public poet: Dylan's "Brilliant Lies" and Cohen's "Church of Cohen." 7. Love Songs: Dylan's "Lay, Lady, Lay" and Cohen's "Dance Me to the End of Love" (and other poems of student choice and instructor direction--many to choose from). 8. Nashville Return: Both poets began with connection to Nashville, and they keep coming back in covers, in references, in spirit. This unit will explore the influence of country music and lyric in the work of two rock icons. 9. Keeping it going: What is a rock icon to do? This unit will explore the ventures of each poet/singer/songwriter into new media and new audiences.