Instructor: Jeff Nelson

Many American writers of the twentieth century attempted, as Ezra Pound put it, to “make it new.” Questioning tradition, these writers experimented with technique, explored contemporary life, and redefined the very notion of “poetry.” In this course, we will examine several representative figures: Robert Frost, T. S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, William Carlos Williams, and Langston Hughes. No previous knowledge of poetry is necessary; we will start with the basics and work toward an understanding of literary modernism.