English 166 - Summer Sessions II, 2021

Love & Desire in Contemporary American Poetry

Class Information

Instructor: Glazner, Greg
CRN: 74129
Time: TWR 2:10-3:50

Description

This course will delve into the themes of love and desire as portrayed by diverse contemporary poets. Romantic and erotic love, certainly, seen from diverse viewpoints and orientations, will be involved, but we will also focus on broader conceptions of love and desire embodied in the poetry. As part of this undertaking, we will discuss the ways in which imagery, voice(s), stance, hybridity, disruption, and style contribute to the works. The first week will involve a wide range of individual poems accessed online. The remaining weeks will be focused on the poetry of Doty, Hayes, Peterson, and Sze. Students will have the opportunity to converse with two of the featured poets in live Zoom sessions.

Important: the books by Sze, Peterson, and Hayes are central to the class. Having them in-hand by the first week of class is essential.

Grading

Two papers, a short midterm, some daily work, and a final.

Texts

Life in a Field, Katie Peterson
Sight Lines, Arthur Sze
American Sonnets for my Past and Future Assassin, Terrence Hayes
Instructor to provide internet links, Mark Doty
Instructor to provide internet links, Various poets for the first week.