This survey module explores genealogies and differences in experimental poetry from the U.S.A, across the late 20th and early 21st century. As well as scanning the nation from East to West, this module pays attention to the 20th century as a period of Little Magazines and ambitious anthologies, considering the way that publishing and circulation practices have created "schools" of poetry. The overall function of the module is to expose students to poetry that is off the beaten track, and may not have been taught at undergraduate level. Within the major schools of avant-garde poetry, emphasis is placed on the more marginal and experimental voices: women, writers of colour and queer writers are reintroduced to what are already alternative canons here, in order to question the way that we categorise poetry.
Aims
* To create a timeline of the modern period in U.S. poetry, so that students understand who came when, and what their relationship was to the writers who came before and after them.
* To consider how poetry and poetic language develop within regional coteries.
* To expand students' familiarity with poetry, so that the very funny or the very weird is considered alongside the very serious and the very famous.
* To encourage students to engage with contemporary poetry, and to explore the role of poetic language as a social and political tool.
- Module Supervisor: Jordan Savage