Students will read a range of difficult and provocative poetry written in English in the U.S. (or in self-imposed exile from it) during the early twentieth century to the mid twentieth century. We will think critically and historically about the categories “Modernism”, modernity, and “modernisms” by which writers and literary historians have sought to make sense of this work and the social and political upheavals that saw it come about. We will consider how issues of race, class, gender, nation, and citizenship shape and are shaped by the writing we read, and wrestle with the claims about form, language, and the world that these writers engaged. There will be an anthology to buy and Xerox packets to print. Writers we read may include Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, T.S. Eliot, Langston Hughes, Marianne Moore, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Elizabeth Bishop, Jean Toomer, Gertrude Stein, Melvin Tolson, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, among others.

Course Requirements:

Students will probably write short, low-stakes reflection papers (or discussion-posts) and two longer (7-10 page) essays, and give an in-class presentation or two.

Intended Audience:

Online-only students are welcome!

Class Format:

Exams: Synchronous/Asynchronous and Online

Lectures: Synchronous/Asynchronous and Online

Class Discussions: Synchronous/Asynchronous and Online