ENG 859 Verse Since 1912: Criticism and Practice
This seminar examines how verse has been interpreted, conceptualized, and created since the introduction of Imagism and the blues. The course pairs criticism and verse published at approximately the same time in order to explore how historical phenomenon (war, racial, gender, regional, and economic issues) influenced critics and versifiers. Readings will include Empson's 7 Types of Ambiguity (1930), Ransom's The World's Body (1938), Brooks' The Well Wrought Urn (1947), Abrams' The Mirror and the Lamp (1953), Bloom's The Anxiety of Influence (1973), Rosenblatt's The Reader, The Text, The Poem (1978), Voigt's The Art of Syntax (2009), and essays on blues poetry and poetic song verse.