Seminar in Literary Studies
Topic: Whitman/Dickinson
Class Information
Instructor: Ronda, Margaret
CRN: 53691
Time: TR 1:40-3:00
GE Areas: Writing Experience
Description
In this course, we will explore the poetic and prose writings of canonical nineteenth-century American poets Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, whose work continues to exert profound influence on contemporary poetic theory and practice. We will look at these poets' composition and revision processes, their work's patterns of circulation and reception, its larger cultural and sociohistorical contexts, and their evolving legacies in American literary criticism. We'll investigate many of their great themes: queer desire and feminine embodiment, industrializing capitalism and slavery, war and state power, religious faith and ecological experience. Our course will end with a look at some recent poetic engagements with these two poets.
Texts
Walt Whitman: Poetry and Prose, Justin Kaplan, Ed.
The Essential Emily Dickinson, Joyce Carol Oates, Ed.
Emily Dickinson's Envelope Poems, Jen Bervin, Ed.