Amy England

Poetics is the study of literary language, traditionally opposed to 'rhetoric,' the study of persuasive or argumentative language. In the 20th Century, poetics also came to denote a sort of artist?s statement written by a poet or on behalf of a movement, or, alternatively, the philosophical basis for interpretation ('critical theory'). This course provides context for writers that is historical, theoretical, and generative. Readings are primarily essays in poetics, poetics 'statements,' and manifestos. We remain close to traditions in Anglophone poetics, begin in ancient Greece, dwell on modernism and post-modern avant-gardes. Think of this course as the theoretical axis on which a basic literary-historical timeline could and will be drawn according to your own interests as a writer. A final project includes the composition of your own poetics statement, a text that harnesses the resources available to creative pursuits, and that is also expository and declarative, a hybrid-genre work.

Taken every semester, the Graduate Projects courses allow students to focus in private sessions on the development of their work. Students register for 6 hours of Graduate Project credit in each semester of study.