Interdisciplinary Arts 0221 - A Formal Feeling: Histories and Futures of Poetic Forms

The central wager of this course is that formal constraint offers a path toward imaginative liberation. As we work our way through forms such as the sonnet, the cento, and the sestina, we'll also consider the ways in which tradition can hold us back. What does it mean to be a modern human inhabiting a historical form? How do we accommodate our speech to the demands of form? To what extent can we alter an old form to serve contemporary needs? For who and to what ends might we invent new forms? To help us consider such questions and to guide composition of new poems, we'll read widely: Cecco Angioleri, Terrence Hayes, Diane Seuss, Edna St. Vincent Millay and giovanni singleton, among others. Students' work will include feedback, a critical essay and poems. I recommend students have taken an introductory poetry workshop before enrolling in this course Keywords: Poetry, creative writing, literature