ENGL 3525 - [Twentieth Century American Poetry]

(crosslisted) AMST 3525
(LA-AS)

Spring. Not offered 2015-2016. 4 credits.

G. Hutchinson.

Twentieth-century poetry has been closely identified with what Ezra Pound famously termed the challenge to “Make It New.” Yet the question of just what “making it new” might mean was hotly contested throughout the century. Why did poets feel the need to make it new? What did making it new mean to people entering the institution of “poetry” from different social positions? American poetry diversified as it also rose in international influence. We will look at a number of different forms of poetry developed by poets from the United States, not forgetting to note the extent to which “Americanism” was or was not of concern to them in their experiments.