Introduction to Poetry

Catalog description

ENGL 2260: Introduction to Poetry will introduce students to the critical process of reading and responding to poetry from a historical and cultural perspective. Emphasis will be on traditional and nontraditional forms as well as canonical and contemporary writers. Students will become familiar with appropriate terminology and will also encounter the poem as a whole piece of written discourse between poet and reader. Students will therefore conduct an ongoing oral and written dialogue with the poet (Who is the speaker? Who is the audience? What is the purpose?) and the poem (What is the message?). Students will articulate orally and in writing their own ideas of interpretation based on a close reading of the text and an informed perspective concerning the historical and cultural circumstances of its origin.