32231 Hauptseminar

Sabine Sielke

"Poetry as Discourse":
Anglo American Poetics and Poetic Practice from Shakespeare's Sonnets to Poetry Slams

In the course of this seminar we will trace the development of Anglo American poetics and poetry from the Shakespearian sonnet to the current revival of poetry and poetry performances in the United States. Based on Antony Easthope's study Poetry as Discourse (1983), our analyses will read poetry both as a distinct literary genre canonized in a high cultural tradition and as a fundamental part of cultural discourse that we are confronted with in the Bible as well as in advertising and pop songs.

I chose Easthope's text because it provides us with a perspective that is both historical (in that it shows how certain poetic forms emerge not artificially, but in certain cultural contexts) and theoretical (in that it discusses poetry as a genre that capitalizes on processes of subjectivity and signification). Participants should therefore - ideally - have a knack for close readings and "fiddles" with forms as well as for explorations in literary and cultural theory; if not, they may - likewise ideally - develop such knack as we go along.

Our readings will include English Renaissance, English and American romantic and various forms of modernist poetry; they will cover the so-called confessionals and the political poetry of the 1960s and 70s as well as language poetry and poetry's most recent infrastructure (including 'dial-a-poem' enterprises and poetry slams).

Credit requirements are regular and active class participation, an oral presentation, and three 5-page analyses of poetic texts.

For PREPARATION I recommend that participants indulge in readings of poetry, using any standard anthology of English and American literature and/or poetry at hand; the various Norton and Heath anthologies are good places to start.