Aims

This module explores American poetry from 2000 to the present. Placing an emphasis on innovative and/or experimental writing, the module examines the ways recent American poetry has confronted the public concerns and social crises of the Unites States in the period, notably those of identity, technology, racism, inequality, and the environment.

Over the course of the module, we will consider a range of forms and techniques associated with American poetry in the twenty-first century: its emphasis on the materiality/visuality of the text; its use of ‘found’ texts and procedural techniques; the emergence of documentary writing and ecopoetics, and its concern with the politics of literary form. We will also ask how American poetry responded to the major social and political events and transitions of the period, including the arrival of social media, the Financial Crisis and Occupy movement, and ongoing ecological crisis.

The module aims to give students a firm grounding in the formal practices and theoretical issues associated with recent American poetry. In particular, the module will give students an opportunity to explore the much-debated relationship between literary form and social experience.

Outline Of Syllabus

The module may include texts by Anne Boyer, Don Mee Choi, Claudia Rankine, Joshua Clover, Alice Notley, Eileen Myles, Rae Armantrout, and Hoa Nguyen, among others.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Eleven lectures introduce students to critical and theoretical debates surrounding works and authors, providing readings of key poems and pertinent context. Seminars develop from the lectures, allowing students to engage with key texts in close reading exercises and to engage broader issues in a participatory group environment. A series of four workshops focusses on theoretical issues raised by seminars and lectures.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The mid-module assignment allows students to develop an understanding of recent American poetry in the period through close reading of a single poem.

The 2500-word essay encourages students to extend their close reading skills into a broader argument, placing individual poems within literary historical and/or social/political context.