This module will explore some of the key figures in experimental postmodern American poetry (Olson, Duncan, Creeley, Dorn, Levertov, Ashbery, O’Hara, Ginsberg and the Beat poets, Snyder, the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets, Conceptual Poetry, ‘flarf’, etc.) in relation to their poetic heritage of the modernist traditions of Pound, Williams, Stevens and Gertrude Stein. Emphasis will be on the close reading of texts in conjunction with more critical essays on poetics authored by the poets studied on the module, in order to make students aware of their growing interrelation in recent American writing.

- articulate how postmodern poetry differs from and also rewrites its modernist predecessor through a reasonable understanding of the studied texts in a range of historical and artistic contexts;

- read poems representative of a varied spectrum of aesthetic productions and locate them in their different interrelated traditions.

This double module will be taught over one semester, using a mixture of formal lecturing (to introduce key poetic figures and themes) and more interactive, hands-on practical seminars devoted to the close reading of poems and essays on poetics, informed by student presentations.

The lectures will provide the students with the necessary background information to help them situate the poets and texts in context. The seminars will help them develop skills in close reading, while the presentations will be used to evaluate their progress and understanding informally.

During seminars, students will be expected to deliver informal presentations on a range of texts of their choice in order to develop their critical skills for close analysis as well as more general presentation skills.

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:

In accordance with University regulations, students are allowed two attempts at retrieval of any failed essay, for a maximum module mark of 40%.  Resit assessments are held over the summer.

A week-by-week schedule will be provided at the beginning of the module, based on the key figures listed above, but with some possibility for students to inflect the module’s contents as they will build up an expertise in the topic. Themes for study will include but are not limited to: space, rewriting, the evolution of open form, the relation between poetry and painting, the connection between aesthetics, politics and ethics, society and social critique.

Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology, ed. Paul Hoover (New York and London: Norton, 2013), to be supplemented by weekly handouts for poems not included in the anthology.

Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology, ed. Paul Hoover (New York and London: Norton, 2013), to be supplemented by weekly handouts for poems not included in the anthology.