ENGL 250-01, 20TH-CENTURY MODERNIST POETRY, Spring 2015

Abstract

This course will trace the development of modernist poetry through the first half of the twentieth century, beginning with modernist precursors Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, and ending with mid-century poets Kenneth Rexroth and Theodore Roethke. Our readings and discussions will address both the sound and sense of poems. We will look closely at linguistic elements such as diction, syntax, and rhythm, considering the ways modernist poets revived and reshaped poetic conventions. Additionally, we will explore some of the period’s key movements and divisions, among them Imagism, high modernism, regionalism, and the Harlem Renaissance.