Fall 2011 ENGLISH 411-0 Studies in Poetry- The Logic of Poetry

"The Logic of Poetry" - Studies in Poetry

"Poetry does not impose; it exposes." So writes Paul Celan, as he seeks to capture the peculiar character of poetry among the artsas an art that is somehow different from all others because of its own internal, highly concentrated, and constantly changing logic. This seminar will provide a systematic introduction to the formal elements of poetry including diction, syntax, image, trope, and rhythm. Each week we will concentrate on a particular element of the poetic process, identifying major poems from the English and American literary traditions, with particular attention to the twentieth century. At the same time, we will read a number of major poetological reflections, beginning with Plato and Aristotle, but again concentrating on twentieth-century thinkers and critics. In the course of the seminar students will be expected to build up a reservoir of knowledge in both poetry and poetics, as they work through the particular poems under consideration and analyze in detail theoretical writings directed toward elucidating those elements that enter into the logic of poetry. Along with weekly exercises that aim to develop the skill required to undertake formal analysis, students will write a final seminar paper working out the poetic logic of a small set of poems.

Poetological writings may include selections from Aristotle, Nietzsche, Jakobson, de Man, Derrida, and Agamben. Poetry will be drawn from the English and American literary traditions.

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