Instructor: Jeff Nelson, Ph.D.

American poets after World War II sought fresh ways of expressing themselves. Elizabeth Bishop describes animals and people around her; Robert Lowell confesses to mental illness; Gwendolyn Brooks recounts the struggles of growing up; and Frank O’Hara tells us what he saw during his lunch hour. In this course, we will discuss several representative poems with an eye to larger poetic movements. No previous knowledge of poetry is required.