Readings in American Literary Genres:
Poetries of the American Left

Professor Dee Morris
Office: EPB 460
Office hours: Mon. 11 am-noon, Thurs. 2:30-3:45, & by appointment
dee-morris@uiowa.edu

 

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

This course examines the intersections between poetry and politics in three pivotal decades of U.S. history--the 1930s, 1950s, and 1970s--before turning to three volumes by contemporary poets Jeff Derksen, Mark Nowak, and Claudia Rankine. For poets who positioned themselves as historical subjects committed to Leftist causes, these decades were consequential and often dangerous periods. We will look at the production of poetry in response to a series of specific crises in these decades, among them the Depression, the Spanish Civil War, the Cold War and McCarthy Inquisition, the Vietnam War, the social actions that marked the rise of feminism, Black Power, and the sexual liberation movements, and the global labor crisis. Reading for the course will be intensive and immersive. Our texts will allow close scrutiny both of the careers of individuals (Langston Hughes, George Oppen, Muriel Rukeyser, Adrienne Rich) and the development of poetic movements (Objectivism, Black Arts, L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E). Among the issues the course will examine are the development of documentary poem; the rise of small presses, periodicals, and broadsides; the art of polemics and manifestos; the rise of the anthology wars and the construction of a viable lineage for a left poetics; and the synergy between political commitments and poetic form. In addition to sustained and intensive reading, course work will include posting to a class wiki, annotated bibliographies of primary and secondary texts, frequent class presentations, research reviews, and a longer paper designed for conference presentation and/or journal publication.

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Syllabus: This page contains expectations for attendance and participation, descriptions of collaborative and individual projects, a table of grading percentages, and statements of relevant departmental, collegiate, and university policies.

Schedule: This overview of the course includes a list of required texts and the semester's reading schedule.

Assignments: This page contains a detailed descriptions of the semester's assignments as they become due.

Wiki: This password-protected site is a collective repository of the semester's findings, including evolving and dynamic definitions of terms, an annotated bibliography, essays, and sign-up sheets.

Discussion: This password-protected ICON site contains two forums: one for postings in response to the readings; one for more general research questions, bibliographical observations, and synoptic comments.

Resources: This page contains a list of books on three-day reserve.

MAPS: This resource was developed by Cary Nelson and his coworkers to accompany the Oxford Anthology of Modern American Poetry. We will consult it frequently for cultural and historical documents, interpretations of poems, biographical and archival materials, photographs, images, sound files, and external links. It is, for a course such as ours, a crucial component of each assignment.

 

Copyright © 2009 Dee Morris The University of Iowa. All rights reserved.
Page updated January 29, 2006 3:19 PM