Many of the readings for this course are available online through the Poetry Foundation and the Academy of American Poets and are linked from the poem titles.
| SES # | TOPICS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Recognizing patterns | Pound, Ezra. “In a Station of the Metro.” In Personae. New Directions, 1990. ISBN: 9780811211383. |
| 2 | Making poetry in English |
Whitman, Walt. “A March in the Ranks Hard-Pressed.” In Walt Whitman: Complete Poetry and Selected Prose. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1959. Harned, Thomas Biggs, and Walt Whitman. Thomas Biggs Harned Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman: Recovered Cardboard Butterfly and Notebooks, 1847-Circa 1863 to 1864; Notebooks; Circa 1863 to 1864, Washington Hospital Notebook. 1863. Whitman, Walt. The Artilleryman’s Vision." In Leaves of Grass. Digireads, 2016. ISBN: 9781420954180. Yeats, W.B. “Easter 1916.” In The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats. Digireads, 2018. ISBN: 9781420957587. Frost, Robert. “The Death of the Hired Man.” In North of Boston. CreateSpace, 2014. ISBN: 9781501038761. |
| 3 | From evidence to analysis |
Shakespeare, Wililam. “Sonnet 116.” Poetry Foundation. Vendler, Helen. The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Belknap Press, 1999, pp. 113–115. ISBN: 9780674637122. [Preview with Google Books.] |
| 4 | Etymologies and rhythms |
Steele, Timothy. All the Fun’s in How You Say a Thing: An Explanation of Meter & Versification. Ohio University Press, 1999. pp. 1–51. ISBN: 9780821412602. Bishop, Elizabeth “At the Fishhouses.” In The Complete Poems, 1927–1979. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1983. ISBN: 978037451872. Heaney, Seamus. “Digging.” In Death of a Naturalist. Faber and Faber, 2006. ISBN: 9780571230839. Moore, Marianne. “The Fish.” Poets.org. |
| 5 |
Guest Lecture: Shigeru Miyagawa, Senior Associate Dean of MIT Open Learning Language as system(s) |
Dizikes, Peter. “From Contemporary Syntax to Human Language’s Deep Origins.” MIT News Office. June 11, 2014. Dizikes, Peter. “The Writing on the Wall.” MIT News Office. February 21, 2018. Sun, Jessica. “Where Did Language Come From?” Feb. 4, 2018. YouTube. Miyagawa, Shigeru, Robert Berwick, and Kazou Okanoya. “Emergence of Structure.” Frontiers Research Foundation, 2013. |
| 6 | The shape of sentences and the shape of information |
Milton, John. “When I consider how my light is spent (Sonnet 19).” John Milton Reading Room. Dunbar, Paul. “The Debt.” In The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar. CreateSpace, 2017. ISBN: 9781475157574. Frost, Robert. “Acquainted with the Night.” In The Poetry of Robert Frost. Henry Holt and Co, 1979. ISBN: 9780805005028. Gay, Ross. “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude.” In Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015. ISBN: 9780822963318. Kirsch, Adam. “Professional Middle-Class Couple, 1927.” Poetry. April, 2003. |
| 7 | Reading line breaks |
Wordsworth, William. “A Slumber did my Spirit Seal.” Poetry Foundation. Brooks, Gwendolyn. “We Real Cool.” In The Bean Eaters. Literary Licensing, 2012. ISBN: 9781259274481. Williams, William Carlos. “The Red Wheelbarrow.” In The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams: Volume I, 1909–1939. New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1991. ISBN: 9780811211871. Williams, William Carlos. “Poem (“As the Cat”).” Poetry. July, 1930. Schussler, Jennifer. “The Forgotten Man Behind William Carlos William’s ‘Red Wheelbarrow’.” New York Times. July 6, 2015. Eliot, T.S. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” In Collected Poems 1909–1962. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991. ISBN: 9780151189786. Eliot, T.S. “Reflections on Vers Libre.” In Selected Prose of T.S. Eliot. Edited by Frank Kermose. Harvest Books, 1975. ISBN: 9780156806541. |
| 8 | Fixed forms, rhymed and otherwise |
Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 18”, “Sonnet 60”, “Sonnet 65.” Poetry Foundation. Spenser, Edmund. “Amoretti LXXV”, “Amoretti LXXXI.” Poetry Foundation. Sidney, Philip. “Astrophil and Stella 1”, “Astrophil and Stella 31.” Poetry Foundation. Larkin, Philip. “Sad Steps.” In Collected Poems. Farrar, Straus and Grioux, 2004. ISBN: 9780374529208. Brooks, Gwendolyn. “my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell.” In Selected Poems. Harper & Row, 1963. ISBN: 9780060909895. Brooks, Gwendolyn. “the rites for Cousin Vit.” In The Norton Anthology of Poetry Fifth Edition. W.W. Norton and Company, 2005. ISBN: 9780393979206. Johnson, James. “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” In Complete Poems. Penguin Classics, 2000. ISBN: 9780141185453. Bishop, Elizabeth. “One Art.” In The Complete Poems 1926–1979. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1983. ISBN: 9780374518172. Collins, Martha. “The Story We Know.” Poetry. December, 1980. Hayes, Terence. “The Golden Shovel.” In Lighthead. Penguin Books, 2010. ISBN: 9780143116967. |
| 9 |
Guest Lecture: Nick Montfort, Poet and MIT Professor New work in computer-generated poetry |
Montfort, Nick. Truelist. Counterpath, 2017. ISBN: 9781933996639. |
| 10 | Sound patterns and sense |
Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 12.” Poetry Foundation. Herbert, George. “The Collar.” Poetry Foundation. Stevens, Wallace. “Poetry is a Destructive Force.” In The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens. Vintage, 2005. ISBN: 9781101911686. Marvell, Andrew. “The Mower to the Glow-worms.” Poetry Foundation. Plath, Sylvia. “Daddy” and “Morning Song.” In Collected Poems. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2018. ISBN: 9780061558894. |
| 11 | Reading a difficult poem (1) | Eliot, T.S. The Waste Land. W.W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN: 9780393974997. |
| 12 | Reading a difficult poem (2) | Eliot, T.S. The Waste Land. W.W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN: 9780393974997. |
| 13 | How do metaphors work? |
Frost, Robert. “Birches.” In The Poetry of Rober Frost. Henry Holt and Co., 1979. ISBN: 9780805005028. Hughes, Langston. “Harlem.” In Selected Poems of Langston Hughes. Vintage Classics, 1990. ISBN: 9780679728184. Pardlo, Gregory. “Double Dutch.” In Totem. The American Poetry Review, 2007. ISBN: 9780977639533. Cohen, Andrea. “Lit.” The New Yorker. February 16, 2015. Dunbar, Paul “We Wear the Mask.” In The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar. CreateSpace, 2017. ISBN: 9781475157574. Jess, Tyehimba. “Booker-Washington Double Shovel.” In Olio. Wave Books, 2016. ISBN: 9781940696201. |
| 14 | Guest Lecture: Tyehimba Jess, Poet |
Jess, Tyehimba. Olio. Wave Books, 2016. pp. 12–29. ISBN: 9781940696201. DuBois, W.E.B. “Of Spiritual Strivings of the Negro People.” Chapter 1, of Souls of Black Folk. CreateSpace, 2017. ISBN: 9781505223378. |
| 15 | How does allusion work? (History) |
Lowell, Robert. “For the Union Dead.” In Collected Poems. Edited by Frank Bidart and David Gewanter. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. ISBN: 9780374530327. Trethewey, Natasha. “Incident.” In Native Guard. Mariner Books, 2007. ISBN: 9780618892657. Pardlo, Gregory. “For Which It Stands.” In Digest. Four Way Books, 2014. ISBN: 9781935536505. |
| 16 | Guest Lecture: Charles Shadle, MIT Lecturer | Shadle, Charles. “Six Dickinson Songs (PDF - 2.3MB).” Courtesy of Charles Shadle. Used with permission. |
| 17 | Guest Lecture: Kimberly Brown, MIT Visiting Professor | Clifton, Lucille. The Book of Light. Copper Canyon Press, 1992. pp. 11–13, 44–47. ISBN: 9781556590528. |
| 18 |
Guest Lecture: Martha Collins, Poet Translating Poetry |
Collins, Martha and Kevin Prufer, eds. Into English: Poems, Translations, Commentaries. Graywolf Press, 2017. pp 71–75, 163–167. ISBN: 9781555977924. |
| 19–22 | Student Presentations | Student-initiated readings |
| 23 | Early English Ballads | Shakespeare and Donne, Early English Ballads Presentation (PDF) |
