How to Read a Poem

Instructor:
Frank Lentricchia
LS 770-89
Spring 2017
Wednesdays, 6:15-8:45 pm
GLS Conference Room

*New Course*

In this course, we will not assume a singular essence of something called “poetry,” which can be found everywhere and nowhere in particular, and which can be revealed for its meanings and values by a single method of reading.  Instead, we’ll proceed on the assumption that different and discrete “poems” require different approaches of reading.  We’ll read a number of short poems from the late 19th through the 20th centuries.  Perhaps 50 in all, maybe 5 per week.  Because these poems are short, you might be tempted to conclude that the reading burden for this course is light.  That would be a mistake. Reading a poem well—intensively, closely and with an eye for detail—will require multiple readings of, and meditations upon, each poem.  Each week you should find time to read and re-read many times the 5 poems assigned—in effect, to live with them and  make them part of you to the point that they resound in your head as you go about your day.  That is how you should prepare for class.

REQUIREMENTS:  faithful and punctual attendance; several short essays of 2-3 pages in length.

 

 

About Frank Lentricchia
Literature

Frank Lentricchia, a novelist and literary critic, is the Katharine Everett Gilbert Professor Emeritus of Literature.  He received his Ph.D. from Duke in 1966 and has taught at UCLA, UC-Irvine and Rice University.  He has taught poetry, film, literature, and fiction courses.

Full Profile for Frank Lentricchia