Welcome to our class blog for 19th and 20th Century American Poetry.
After a discussion on what poetry is and a cursory overview of America’s history during the 19th & 20th centuries, we will begin our discussion of the poetry in this period with T. S. Eliot. We will use his poem “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” to review the poetic devices and figures of speech. Next we will look at the two great voices of early American poetry, namely Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. Robert Frost will act as the bridge between Dickinson & Whitman and the Imagists of whom we will focus on Carl Sandberg and Ezra Pound as representative figures. The remainder of the course will be devoted to gender and race. We will look at prominent female and African-American voices, such as Marianne Moore, Sylvia Plath, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Maya Angelou.
I’m excited about what is ahead for us this semester and hope that you will enjoy the journey.
