Faculty First Year Seminars 191UW4 - Pop Poetry for Young Adults

Poetry can be a ?highly communicative, informed, visceral way of connecting with people while also keeping them entertained,? says award-winning slam poet Anthony Anaxagorou. Today?s young adult poets are creating a variety of boundary-pushing forms of poetry (insta-, slam- and digital) to express and share their lived experiences, and young adult readers are engaging with this poetry in unprecedented ways. This seminar considers contemporary poetry thematically, and as it relates to the experiences of people transitioning to college life. Students will work both individually and collaboratively to analyze, research, and reflect on the works by poets such as Rupi Kaur, Amanda Gorman, RC Davis, Sabrina Benaim, Tyler Gregson, Amal Khan, and Brian Yu. Because these popular new poets have also faced serious criticism, students will explore and investigate questions such as: who gets to decide what `counts? as poetry?and why? As a first-year seminar, students will be introduced to each other, campus resources to support their success, and opportunities in the community at-large?through the lens of poetry. Students are encouraged to bring verse that is meaningful to them, express their ideas using multiple platforms and technologies, and apply their own personal and disciplinary perspectives to the study of these works.

NSOT - Fresh/Soph