Poetry as Literary and Cultural Practice

Kursbeschreibung / -kommentar

This course is designed as an intensive follow up to the discussion of poetry as a literary genre in the course "Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies".
Apart from a detailed introduction to the literary mechanisms and textual processes at work in poetry (poetic form, voice, rhyme, metre, imagery, rhetorical figures, etc.), we will gain an insight into the historical development of poetry in the British and Irish tradition.
Additionally, the course will try to approach poetry not only as a literary form but also as an important area of cultural practice. Questions such as to the role of poetry as creative reflection of and critical commentary on political, historical, economic and social developments in the UK and Ireland will be central here.
Literatur
Apart from the section on poetry in Michael Meyer's "English and American Literatures" (UTB, 2011) and relevant sections in the Norton Anthology of English Literature (both to be consulted in the semester apparatus of the course "Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies"), the following two texts are recommended for reading and possible purchase:
Wolosky, Shira. The Art of Poetry. How to Read a Poem. Oxford: OUP, 2001.
Lennard, John. The Poetry Handbook. Second edition. Oxford: OUP, 2005.
Leistungsnachweis
Depending on your course of study, the following is required to gain Credit Points in this course:
2 or 3 CP...regular and active participation & short presentation/impulse for discussion on any one poem discussed in class
5 or 6 CP...see above AND take-away exam at the end of the course
7 CP...see 2 or 3 CP AND 10-12 page term paper