Spiritual Poetry

Catalog description

This course examines the relationship between aesthetic experience, as expressed through profound poetry, and spirituality. Students will read from several significant traditions in poetry that draw from the well of deep cultural and religious traditions within which that poetry forms. First, students will read poetry from the T’ang Dynasty (7th through 10th centuries BCE China), and explore its relationship to Confucianism, Taoism, and various forms of Buddhism. Next, students will savor the rich cultural and religious traditions from the Middle East as they are expressed in Sufi poetry. Finally, students will investigate some of the mystical elements of Greek, Roman, Pagan, and Christian spirituality expressed in the works of contemporary Western mystical poets.