LIT 72 — Thirty Timeless Poems: What They Mean and Why They Matter
Quarter: Spring
Instructor(s): Nicholas Jenkins
Date(s): Apr 2—Jun 4
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Tuesdays
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Tuition: $550
Refund Deadline: Apr 4
Unit(s): 2
Status: Closed
Quarter: Spring
Day: Tuesdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Date(s): Apr 2—Jun 4
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $550
Refund Deadline: Apr 4
Instructor(s): Nicholas Jenkins
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Closed
Poetry is peace, turmoil, joy, fear, big things and small things, beauty, sadness, vision, and sanity. We’ll study and discuss 30 exemplary poems; these chosen lyrics will be your entry to a virtually limitless world of great reading. Some of these poems are ancient, some contemporary—each is a favorite of the instructor. Understanding and appreciating this compact and portable art isn't about making your way through huge numbers of pages or knowing the philosophical or historical context within which a poem was written. It's about being willing to be thunderstruck. This course will take "apogee poems" from different periods, and we'll talk about what, including formal beauties, makes them great and profound. Some of the poets whose works we’ll read are Elizabeth Bishop, Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Jorie Graham, Robert Hayden, Sylvia Plath, and John Keats. There will be poems from Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, and the United States. We’ll also take in poems (in translation) from China, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Russia. You don’t need prior experience in reading poetry—just bring a love of language, a readiness to be moved, and an openness to sharing your reactions.
NICHOLAS JENKINS
Associate Professor of English, Stanford
Nicholas Jenkins is the primary investigator for Kindred Britain, a digital humanities website that traces relationships among nearly 30,000 British people. He has contributed to the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, The New York Times Book Review, The New Republic, and The New Yorker. He received a DPhil from the University of Oxford. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Czeslaw Milosz (ed.), A Book Of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry (ISBN 978-0156005746)