The emphasis will be on close reading. From this detailed reading, questions will naturally arise about the nature of poetry itself: What distinguishes it from other verbal forms, how does it “work”, what and how does a poem “mean” (“a poem should not mean but be”), what is “difficulty,” what is “ambiguity”, what is structure, and, vitally, what is metaphor?  And what do we think of Philip Larkin’s famous phrase, “One doesn’t study poets! You read them, and think: ‘That’s marvelous, how is it done, could I do it? And that’s how you learn’.” The common text is THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN POETRY, 2nd. edition, ed. Ellmann and O’Clair. I much prefer this, but if it is not available, then obtain the much larger and more expensive, THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY POETRY, vol. 1, “Modern Poetry”, and vol. 2, “Contemporary Poetry”, both ed. Ramazani, Ellmann and O’Clair.

3 credits.