Lyric poetry in a global context from the mid-nineteenth century
to the present, with special emphasis on the relevance of the
texts under discussion to contemporary society around the world,
including the United States.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students: Additional reading, writing, and research assignments.
Athena Title
Rethinking World Poetry
Undergraduate Prerequisite
Experience engaging critically with literary or other texts and experience developing and expressing ideas in written and oral form.
Graduate Prerequisite
Experience engaging critically with literary or other texts and experience developing and expressing ideas in written and oral form.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to interpret the formal, aesthetic, and creative elements of lyrical poetry from around the world, and cultural texts and the social and historical contexts in which they circulate.
Students will be able to investigate, analyze, synthesize, and demonstrate knowledgeably and coherently, in written and oral form, various works of lyric poetry throughout the world, with special emphasis on the relevance of these texts the contemporary global scene.
Students will be able to develop, support, and express ideas in written and oral form using language with clarity and precision in coherent, cohesive essays, and/or oral presentations.
Students will be able to synthesize competing positions into an original argument supported by textual evidence.
Topical Outline
The focus of the course is on readings of lyric poetry around the world, with special emphasis on the relevance of texts under discussion to the contemporary global scene. The works covered vary with the individual instructor. Among the topics generally treated are: the formal, rhetorical, and thematic patterns common to modern poetry and how these differ from one culture to another, from one period to another, and from one poet to another; the function of symbol, irony, paradox, allegory, synesthesia, and myth in modern verse; the persistence of themes of displacement, withdrawal, and alienation; and the preoccupation with questions of epistemology and axiology in modern poetry. The following is a sample syllabus of readings for a single semester:
Holderlin. Hymns and Fragments
Baudelaire. The Flowers of Evil
Neruda. Selected Poems
Soyinka. Idanre and other poems
Rilke. Duino Elegies
Pessoa. Poems
Institutional Competencies
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
