Modern & Contemporary American Poetry (“ModPo”)

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Approx. 80 hours to complete
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Course Summary

ModPo is a free, online course on modern & contemporary American poetry. Join us for a 10-week journey through modern and contemporary U.S. poetry. No prior experience necessary.

Key Learning Points

  • Learn to read poetry with greater understanding and appreciation
  • Explore the rich history and diversity of American poetry
  • Engage with a supportive community of fellow poetry lovers

Related Topics for further study


Learning Outcomes

  • Develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of modern & contemporary American poetry
  • Learn how to read poetry with greater comprehension and sensitivity
  • Join a supportive community of poetry lovers and engage in literary discussions

Prerequisites or good to have knowledge before taking this course

  • No prior experience necessary
  • Access to the internet and a computer or mobile device

Course Difficulty Level

Beginner

Course Format

  • Online Course
  • Self-paced Learning
  • Video Lectures
  • Community Discussions

Similar Courses

  • Modern and Contemporary American Poetry
  • The Poetry of 9/11

Related Education Paths


Notable People in This Field

  • Terrance Hayes
  • Tracy K. Smith

Related Books

Description

ModPo is a fast-paced introduction to modern and contemporary U.S. poetry, with an emphasis on experimental verse, from Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman to the present. Participants (who need no prior experience with poetry) will learn how to read poems that are supposedly "difficult." We encounter and discuss the poems one at a time. It's much easier than it seems! Join us and try it!

Outline

  • chapter 1.1 (week 1)—Whitman & Dickinson, two proto-modernists
  • watch an introduction to week 1
  • watch video on Emily Dickinson's "I dwell in Possibility"
  • watch video on Dickinson's "Tell all the truth but tell it slant"
  • watch further discussion on "Tell all the truth"
  • watch video on Emily Dickinson's "The Brain within its Groove" (part 1)
  • watch video on Emily Dickinson's "The Brain within its Groove" (part 2)
  • watch the CANON CHALLENGE for week 1
  • watch video on Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" (part 1)
  • watch video on Walt Whitman's “Song of Myself” (part 2)
  • watch video on canto 47 of "Song of Myself"
  • watch discussion of Divya Victor's "W is for Walt Whitman's Soul"
  • (alt.) watch abridged video on Victor's "W is for Walt..."
  • watch Divya Victor discuss "W is for Walt Whitman's Soul"
  • watch video discussion of the Whitmanian and Dickinsonian modes
  • listen to an optional further introduction to week 1: audio & transcript
  • read Emily Dickinson's “I dwell in Possibility”
  • listen to Al Filreis recite "I dwell in Possibility"
  • read Dickinson's "Tell all the truth but tell it slant"
  • read Dickinson's "The Brain within its Groove"
  • (optional) watch condensed video on Dickinson's "Brain within its Groove"
  • read sections 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 14, 47 & 52 of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”
  • listen to recordings of “Song of Myself”
  • read Al Filreis on canto 8 of "Song of Myself"
  • read Divya Victor's "W is for Walt Whitman's Soul
  • watch or listen to Divya Victor read "W is for Walt Whitman's Soul"
  • on "Possibility" in Emily Dickinson's "I dwell in Possibility"
  • on the dash in Emily Dickinson’s “I dwell in Possibility”

  • chapter 1.2 (week 2)—Whitmanians & Dickinsonians
  • watch an introduction to week 2
  • watch video on William Carlos Williams’s “Smell!”
  • watch video on William Carlos Williams's "Danse Russe"
  • watch video on Allen Ginsberg's "A Supermarket in California"
  • watch video on Lorine Niedecker's "Grandfather Advised Me"
  • watch video on Lorine Niedecker's "You are my friend"
  • watch video on Lorine Niedecker's "Foreclosure"
  • watch the CANON CHALLENGE for week 2
  • watch video on Cid Corman's "It isnt for want"
  • watch video on Rae Armantrout's "The Way"
  • watch video on distinctions between “Dickinsonian” and “Whitmanian” proto-modernism
  • listen to an optional further introduction to week 2: audio & transcript
  • read William Carlos Williams’s “Smell!”
  • listen to Williams perform “Smell!”
  • read/listen to "Smell!" in text-audio alignment
  • read Williams's "Danse Russe"
  • listen to Williams perform "Danse Russe"
  • read/listen to “Danse Russe” in text-audio alignment
  • read Allen Ginsberg's “A Supermarket in California”
  • listen to Ginsberg perform “A Supermarket in California”
  • read/listen to Ginsberg's “A Supermarket in California” as text-audio alignment
  • read Lorine Niedecker's “Grandfather advised me”
  • read Lorine Niedecker's “You are my friend”
  • read Lorine Niedecker's “Foreclosure”
  • listen to Lorine Niedecker perform “Foreclosure”
  • listen to a 30-minute discussion of “Foreclosure” (& another short poem)
  • read Cid Corman's "It isnt for want"
  • listen to Cid Corman perform “It isnt for want”
  • read Rae Armantrout's “The Way”
  • listen to Rae Armantrout perform “The Way”
  • listen to Rae Armantrout talk briefly about “The Way”
  • listen to PoemTalk discussion of “The Way”
  • essay assignment #1
  • on Niedecker's "Grandfather advised me"
  • on Corman's "It isnt for want"

  • chapter 2.1 (week 3)—the rise of poetic modernism: imagism
  • watch an introduction to week 3
  • watch video on H.D.'s "Sea Rose"
  • watch video on Ezra Pound's "In a Station of the Metro"
  • watch video on Ezra Pound's "The Encounter"
  • watch further discussion on "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"
  • watch a discussion of Tonya Foster's haiku (with the poet)
  • watch a PoemTalk discussion of Tonya Foster's haiku
  • watch the CANON CHALLENGE for week 3
  • listen to an optional further introduction to week 3: audio & transcript
  • imagism briefly defined
  • read H.D.'s "Sea Rose"
  • read Ezra Pound's "In a Station of the Metro"
  • read Pound's "In a Station of the Metro" as it appeared in Poetry magazine
  • read a selection of critical commentary on "In a Station of the Metro"
  • watch brief further discussion of Pound's "In a Station of the Metro"
  • read Ezra Pound's "The Encounter"
  • read Wallace Stevens's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"
  • listen to a discussion of Stevens's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"
  • read haiku from Tonya Foster's "A Swarm of Bees in High Court"
  • essay #1: write reviews of others' essays
  • on "In a Station of the Metro"

  • chapter 2.2 (week 3 cont.)—the rise of poetic modernism: Williams
  • watch video on Williams's "Lines"
  • watch video on Williams's "Between Walls"
  • watch video on Williams’s “This Is Just to Say”
  • watch video on Williams's "The Red Wheelbarrow"
  • watch video discussion on Duchamp’s “Fountain”
  • watch video on Williams's "Portrait of a Lady"
  • watch video on Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase"
  • read William Carlos Williams's "Lines"
  • read William Carlos Williams's "Between Walls"
  • listen to Williams reading "Between Walls"
  • read/listen with text-audio alignment to Williams's "Between Walls"
  • listen to PoemTalk discussion of "Between Walls"
  • read William Carlos Williams's "This Is Just to Say"
  • read Flossie Williams's reply to "This Is Just to Say"
  • listen to William Carlos Williams's explanation of “This Is Just to Say”
  • listen to five recordings of Williams reading "This Is Just to Say"
  • listen to five recordings of Williams reading “This Is Just to Say” as text-audio alignment
  • read William Carlos Williams's "The Red Wheelbarrow"
  • listen to four recordings of Williams reading “The Red Wheelbarrow”
  • listen to four recordings of Williams performing “The Red Wheelbarrow” as text-audio alignment
  • watch further discussion of Williams’s “The Red Wheelbarrow”
  • look at a photograph of Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain” at the Philadephia Museum of Art
  • watch a museum-goer’s video of Duchamp’s “Fountain” on display at SFMoMA
  • read William Carlos Williams's, “The rose is obsolete”
  • listen to a 6-minute close reading of “The rose is obsolete”
  • read William Carlos Williams's, "Portrait of a Lady"
  • listen to 3 recordings of Williams performing “Portrait of a Lady”
  • look at Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase”
  • on Williams's "Between Walls"

  • chapter 2.3 (week 4)—the rise of poetic modernism: Stein
  • watch an introduction to week 4
  • watch video on Stein's "A Long Dress"
  • watch further discussion on "A Long Dress"
  • watch video on Stein's "A Carafe, That Is a Blind Glass"
  • watch video on "Water Raining" and "Malachite"
  • watch video on Stein's ideas about narrative, composition, repeating & nouns
  • watch video on Stein's "Let Us Describe"
  • watch video on Stein's "If I Told Him"
  • watch the CANON CHALLENGE for week 4
  • listen to an optional further introduction to week 4: audio & transcript
  • read Stein's "A Long Dress" from Tender Buttons
  • read Marjorie Perloff's comment on Stein and in particular on "A Carafe, That Is a Blind Glass"
  • read Gertrude Stein, "A Carafe, That Is a Blind Glass," from the "Objects" section of Tender Buttons
  • watch video of Laynie Browne discussing "A Carafe" and the "Objects" section of Tender Buttons
  • listen to Jackson Mac Low's 1978 performance of Stein's "A Carafe, That Is a Blind Glass"
  • listen to Jackson Mac Low's close reading of "A Carafe, That Is a Blind Glass"
  • watch video on Stein’s phrase “not unordered in not resembling”
  • read Stein's "Water Raining" and "Malachite" from Tender Buttons
  • watch Bob Perelman on Stein's use of the continuous present tense
  • watch Ron Silliman on how each Stein poem creates its own definition of reading
  • watch discussion of the pleasure to be gotten from Stein's “linguistic-ness”
  • read Stein on narrative
  • read Stein on the noun
  • read Stein on repetition
  • read Stein on composition
  • listen to Joan Retallack reading some propositions from Stein’s “Composition as Explanation”
  • condensed version of video on Stein's ideas about narrative, composition & nouns [alternative]
  • watch further discussion on the noun & loving repeating
  • read Gertrude Stein's "Let Us Describe"
  • read Stein’s “If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso”
  • listen to Stein perform “If I Told Him”
  • read/listen with text-audio alignment of Stein's "If I Told Him"
  • watch a dance choreographed to Stein's “If I Told Him”
  • read Ulla Dydo's prefatory comment on "If I Told Him"
  • listen to Marjorie Perloff speaking about Stein’s portraits
  • essay assignment #2
  • on "A Carafe, That Is a Blind Glass"

  • chapter 2.4 (week 4 cont.)—the rise of poetic modernism: modernist edges
  • watch video on Baroness Elsa von Freytag Loringhoven
  • watch video on Tristan Tzara's "To Make a Dadaist Poem"
  • watch video on Bishop's "A Recollection" and the sonnet in modernism
  • read Baroness Elsa von Freytag Loringhoven’s “A Dozen Cocktails—Please”
  • explore the archived manuscript of "A Dozen Cocktails—Please"
  • read Williams on the Baroness
  • listen to a brief bio of the Baroness
  • listen to a passage from Kenneth Rexroth’s account of the Baroness
  • read Tristan Tzara’s “To Make a Dadaist Poem”
  • re-read Tzara’s “To Make a Dadaist Poem” in an introduction to "chance operations"
  • watch a film-illustration of “To Make a Dadaist Poem”
  • read about the sonnet as a form
  • read William Carlos Williams on the sonnet
  • read John Peale Bishop, "A Recollection"
  • on Tzara's "To Make a Dadaist Poem"

  • chapter 3 (week 5)—communist poets of the 1930s
  • watch an introduction to week 5
  • watch video on Ruth Lechlitner's "Lines for an Abortionist's Office"
  • watch video on Genevieve Taggard's "Interior"
  • listen to an optional further introduction to week 5 (audio & transcript)
  • read Ruth Lechlitner’s “Lines for an Abortionist's Office”
  • read Genevieve Taggard’s “Interior’
  • essay #2: write reviews of others' essays

  • chapter 4 (week 5 cont.)—the Harlem Renaissance
  • watch video discussion of Cullen’s “Incident”
  • watch video on McKay's "If We Must Die"
  • watch video on Hughes's "Dinner Guest: Me"
  • watch video on teaching Hughes’s “Dinner Guest: Me”
  • watch video on Brooks’s “Boy Breaking Glass”
  • read Countee Cullen’s “Yet Do I Marvel”
  • read Countee Cullen’s “Incident”
  • read Claude McKay's "If We Must Die"
  • listen to McKay perform "If We Must Die"
  • listen to a PoemTalk episode about "If We Must Die"
  • read Langston Hughes’s “Dinner Guest: Me”
  • read Gwendolyn Brooks’s “Boy Breaking Glass”
  • (alt.) watch shorter version of video on Brooks's "Boy Breaking Glass"
  • read Gwendolyn Brooks’s “truth”
  • listen to an audio discussion of Brooks's “truth”
  • listen to a 30-minute PoemTalk discussion of Brooks’s “truth” & Etheridge Knight’s poem-response
  • (alt.) listen to an abridged (17-min.) version of the PoemTalk discussion of Brooks & Knight
  • on Claude McCay's "If We Must Die"

  • chapter 5 (week 5 cont.)—Frost
  • watch video on Frost's "Mending Wall"
  • read Robert Frost's "Mending Wall"
  • listen to Frost declaim "Mending Wall"
  • read/hear Frost's "Mending Wall" with machine-aided text-audio alignment
  • optional: watch & listen to four contemporary poets debate “Mending Wall”
  • watch 6-minute excerpt from the 1-hr. video on "Mending Wall"

  • chapter 6 (week 5 cont.)—formalism of the 1950s
  • watch video on Wilbur's "The Death of a Toad"
  • watch further discussion of Wilbur's "The Death of a Toad"
  • watch video on Kennedy’s “Nude Descending a Staircase”
  • watch further discussion on Kennedy's "Nude Descending a Staircase"
  • read Richard Wilbur's "The Death of a Toad"
  • read X. J. Kennedy’s “Nude Descending a Staircase”
  • on Richard Wilbur's "The Death of a Toad"

  • chapter 7 (week 6)—breaking conformity: the beats
  • watch an introduction to week 6
  • watch video on the first section of Ginsberg's "Howl" (part 1)
  • watch video on the first section of Ginsberg's "Howl" (part 2)
  • (alt.) watch abridged version of discussion of "Howl"
  • watch video on Kerouac's ideas about prose
  • (alternative) watch short version of video on Kerouac's ideas about prose
  • on Kerouac's "Old Angel Midnight"
  • (alt.) abridged version of video on Kerouac's "Old Angel Midnight"
  • watch ModPo TAs debate spontaneity & first thought/best thought
  • watch video: can we do a close reading of babble flow?
  • watch video on Bob Kaufman's "Jail Poems"
  • watch Doug Kearney & others on "Jail Poems"
  • watch the CANON CHALLENGE for week 6
  • watch video on Creeley's "I Know a Man"
  • watch video on Waldman's "Rogue State"
  • watch video on Baraka's "Incident"
  • watch video on Baraka's "How You Sound??"
  • watch video on Jayne Cortez's "She Got He Got"
  • listen to an optional further introduction to chapter 7, week 6 (audio & transcript)
  • read Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" (part 1)
  • listen to Ginsberg perform "Howl" in 1956
  • listen to a brief excerpt from Ginsberg’s performance of “Howl”
  • read Jack Kerouac’s “Essentials of Spontaneous Prose”
  • read Jack Kerouac’s “Belief & Technique for Modern Prose”
  • read section 1 of Kerouac's "Old Angel Midnight"
  • listen to Kerouac perform the first section of "Old Angel Midnight"
  • read PoemTalk program notes on "Old Angel Midnight"
  • listen to PoemTalk episode on "Old Angel Midnight"
  • listen to Clark Coolidge read section 4 of "Old Angel Midnight"
  • read section 4 of "Old Angel Midnight"
  • read Bob Kaufman's “Jail Poems” (sections 3, 4, 7, 14, 19, 22, 34 & 35)
  • (alternative) watch shorter version of video on Kaufman's "Jail Poems"
  • read Robert Creeley's "I Know a Man"
  • listen to 5 recordings of Creeley performing “I Know a Man”
  • read/listen with text-audio alignment to Creeley's "I Know a Man"
  • listen to PoemTalk on Creeley's "I Know a Man"
  • listen to Anne Waldman perform “Rogue State”
  • watch video of Waldman’s performance of “Rogue State”
  • read Amiri Baraka’s “Incident”
  • read Amiri Baraka's “How You Sound??”
  • watch Doug Kearney on Baraka's "How You Sound??"
  • watch & listen as Jayne Cortez performs “She Got He Got”
  • read a transcript of "She Got He Got" by Jayne Cortez
  • on Ginsberg's “Howl”
  • on Robert Creeley's "I Know a Man"

  • chapter 8 (week 7)—the New York School
  • watch an introduction to week 7
  • watch discussion of O’Hara's “The Day Lady Died”
  • watch video on Koch's “Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams”
  • watch video on Ashbery's “The Instruction Manual”
  • watch further discussion of Ashbery’s “The Instruction Manual”
  • watch video on Guest's “20”
  • watch further discussion of Guest’s “20”
  • watch video on James Schuyler's "February"
  • watch video on Ashbery's "Some Trees" (part 1)
  • watch video on Ashbery's "Some Trees" (part 2)
  • watch video on Mayer’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”
  • watch the CANON CHALLENGE for week 7
  • watch a discussion of Eileen Myles' "Mount St. Helens"
  • watch discussion of Hanif Abdurraqib's "USAvCUBA"
  • watch video on Patrick Rosal's "Uptown Ode That Ends on an Ode to the Machete" Part I
  • watch video on Patrick Rosal's "Uptown Ode That Ends on an Ode to the Machete" Part II
  • (alt.) watch abridged discussion of Rosal's poem (20 mins.)
  • watch an introduction to week 7
  • read Frank O’Hara’s “The Day Lady Died”
  • listen to O'Hara perform “The Day Lady Died”
  • watch video of O'Hara reading “The Day Lady Died"
  • read Kenneth Koch’s "Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams"
  • read John Ashbery’s “The Instruction Manual”
  • listen to Ashbery perform “The Instruction Manual”
  • read Barbara Guest’s “20” & listen to a recording
  • read James Schuyler's "February"
  • listen to Schuyler perform "February"
  • read John Ashbery’s “Some Trees”
  • listen to Ashbery perform “Some Trees”
  • read/listen to Ashbery’s “Some Trees” with text-audio alignment
  • read Bernadette Mayer’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”
  • listen to Mayer perform “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”
  • read/listen to Mayer’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” with text-audio alignment
  • read Eileen Myles' "Mount St. Helens"
  • listen to Myles read "Mount St. Helens"
  • watch Eileen Myles talk with Al Filreis about Mount St. Helens
  • read Hanif Abdurraqib's "USAvCUBA"
  • listen to Hanif Abdurraqib perform "USAvCUBA"
  • read Patrick Rosal’s “Uptown Ode That Ends on an Ode to the Machete”
  • listen to Patrick Rosal read "Uptown Ode"
  • essay assignment #3
  • on O'Hara's "The Day Lady Died"
  • on Guest's "20"

  • chapter 9.1 (week 8)—some trends in recent poetry: L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E
  • watch an introduction to week 8 (12 mins.)
  • optional 24-min. supplemental intro to Language poetry
  • watch video on Hejinian’s My Life (part 1)
  • watch video on Hejinian’s My Life (part 2)
  • (alt.) watch abridged version of discussion of Hejinian's "My Life"
  • watch video on Perelman’s "Chronic Meanings"
  • watch video on Bernstein’s "In a Restless World Like This Is"
  • watch the CANON CHALLENGE for week 8
  • watch video on Howe’s “My Emily Dickinson”
  • watch brief video introducing Mullen's "Sleeping with the Dictionary"
  • watch video on Mullen’s “Sleeping with the Dictionary”
  • watch discussion of John Keene's "Persons and Places" on location
  • read 4 sections of Lyn Hejinian’s "My Life"
  • listen to Lyn Hejinian read 4 sections of "My Life"
  • read Bob Perelman’s “Chronic Meanings”
  • read Perelman’s note on “Chronic Meanings”
  • listen to Perelman talk briefly about “Chronic Meanings”
  • listen to Perelman perform “Chronic Meanings”
  • read/listen to Perelman’s “Chronic Meanings” as text-audio alignment
  • watch video of Bob Perelman & others discussing “Chronic Meanings”
  • read Charles Bernstein’s “In a Restless World Like This Is”
  • listen to Bernstein perform “In a Restless World Like This Is”
  • read/listen to Bernstein’s “In a Restless World Like This Is” as text-audio alignment
  • listen to PoemTalk about Bernstein’s “In a Restless World Like This Is”
  • (alt.) listen to an abridged version of the discussion of "In a Restless World..."
  • watch Bob Perelman & others discussing Bernstein’s “Restless World”
  • read Emily Dickinson’s “My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun”
  • read passages from Susan Howe’s “My Emily Dickinson”
  • listen to an excerpt of Charles Bernstein’s conversation with Susan Howe about Emily Dickinson
  • listen to Rae Armantrout read and comment on “My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun”
  • listen to PoemTalk on Susan Howe’s "My Emily Dickinson"
  • (alt.) listen to an abridged version of the PoemTalk discussion of "My Emily Dickinson"
  • (alt.) watch abridged video on Howe's "My Emily Dickinson"
  • read two poems from Harryette Mullen’s book “Sleeping with the Dictionary”
  • listen to Harryette Mullen read & explain “Sleeping with the Dictionary”"
  • (alt.) watch abridged video on "Sleeping with the Dictionary"
  • read "Cant" & "Written by H'Self" by Tyrone Williams
  • listen to Tyrone Williams read "Cant" & "Written by H'Self"
  • listen to a PoemTalk discussion of Tyrone Williams's "Cant" & "Written by H'Self"
  • (alt.) listen to an abridged (21-min.) version of the PoemTalk discussion of Tyrone Williams
  • read John Keene's "Persons and Places"
  • essay #3: write reviews of others’ essays
  • on Perelman's "Chronic Meanings"
  • on Henijian's "My Life"

  • chapter 9.2 (week 9)—some trends in recent poetry: chance
  • watch an introduction to week 9
  • watch video on Cage's "Writing through Howl"
  • watch video on Cage’s adagia
  • watch video on Mac Low's "A Vocabulary for Peter Innisfree Moore"
  • watch video on Mac Low's approach to Stein
  • watch video on Osman's "Dropping Leaflets"
  • watch video on Bernadette Mayer's writing experiments
  • watch video on Retallack's "Not a Cage"
  • watch further discussion of Retallack's "Not a Cage"
  • listen to an optional further introduction to week 9: audio & transcript
  • read a description of mesostics
  • read a brief excerpt from John Cage’s “Writing through Howl”
  • read three pages on “Writing through Howl” by Marjorie Perloff
  • try your hand at making your own mesostic
  • read a selection of John Cage’s adagia
  • listen to Cage speak about why he seeks to “mak[e] English less understandable”
  • listen to an excerpt from Jackson Mac Low’s “A Vocabulary for Peter Innisfree Moore”
  • read Daniel Kane’s comment on Mac Low with reference to Peter Innisfree Moore
  • view Mac Low’s chart for performers of "A Vocabulary for Peter Innisfree Moore
  • read an article about Peter Innisfree Moore
  • read Mac Low’s elaborate performance instructions for “A Vocabulary for Peter Innisfree Moore”
  • watch discussion of chance poetry & mourning
  • listen to Mac Low's 1978 reading of Stein's "A Carafe, That Is a Blind Glass"
  • listen to Mac Low's commentary on Tender Buttons
  • read a brief introduction to Mac Low’s Stein poems
  • read Mac Low's poem #100 in his Stein series, “A Feather Likeness of the Justice Chair”
  • listen to Mac Low perform "A Feather Likeness of the Justice Chair"
  • read Jena Osman’s “Dropping Leaflets”
  • listen to Osman perform “Dropping Leaflets”
  • listen to PoemTalk on Osman’s “Dropping Leaflets”
  • (alt.) listen to an abridged (17-min.) version of PoemTalk on "Dropping Leaflets"
  • read a selection of Bernadette Mayer's writing experiments
  • read Joan Retallack’s “Not a Cage”
  • listen to Retallack read "Not a Cage"
  • read/listen to Retallack’s “Not a Cage” as text-audio alignment
  • listen to PoemTalk on Retallack's “Not a Cage”
  • (alt.) listen to an abridged (18-min.) version of the PoemTalk discussion of Retallack's "Not a Cage"
  • essay assignment #4
  • on John Cage
  • on Joan Retallack's "Not a Cage"

  • chapter 9.3 (week 10)—some trends in recent poetry: conceptualism & unoriginality
  • watch an introduction to week 10
  • watch video on Bök’s “Eunoia”
  • watch video on Baum’s “Card Catalogue” and “Dog Ear”
  • watch video on Caroline Bergvall's "VIA"
  • watch video on Magee’s “Pledge” & “My Angie Dickinson”
  • watch the CANON CHALLENGE for week 10
  • watch video on Waldrop’s “Shorter American Memory”
  • watch discussion of Nasser Hussain's SKY WRI TEI NGS
  • (alt.) watch abridgement of Nasser Hussain discussion
  • watch discussion of Jordan Abel's "The Place of Scraps"
  • (alt.) watch abridged version of Jordan Abel discussion
  • watch video on Tracie Morris’s “Africa(n)” & final words
  • read Christian Bök, “Chapter E” of “Eunoia”
  • listen to Christian Bök perform "Chapter E” of “Eunoia”
  • read & look at Erica Baum’s “Card Catalogue”
  • read & look at Erica Baum’s “Dog Ear”
  • listen to Caroline Bergvall perform “VIA”
  • read Caroline Bergvall’s “VIA”
  • read Bergvall’s preface to “VIA”
  • read Brian Reed's essay on Bergvall's “VIA”
  • listen to a PoemTalk discussion of Bergvall’s “VIA”
  • read an excerpt from Michael Magee’s “Pledge”
  • read Magee's comments on ModPo’ers’ responses to “Pledge”
  • read Ron Silliman on Michael Magee’s “My Angie Dickinson”
  • read a selection of poems from Magee’s “My Angie Dickinson”
  • read Magee's description of the methodology of “My Angie Dickinson”
  • read Magee’s definition of “flarf” poetry for Charles Bernstein
  • read Rosmarie Waldrop’s “Shorter American Memory of the Declaration of Independence”
  • listen to Waldrop perform “Shorter American Memory of the Declaration of Independence”
  • listen to an episode of PoemTalk on Waldrop’s “Shorter American Memory”
  • read Nasser Hussain's "SKY WRI TEI NGS"
  • read Jordan Abel's "The Place of Scraps"
  • listen to Tracie Morris introduce & perform “Africa(n)”
  • watch a video of Tracie Morris performing “Africa(n)”
  • listen to a musical arrangement of “Africa(n)” with Val Jeanty
  • essay #4: write reviews of others' essays
  • on unoriginality
  • on Morris's "Africa(n)"

Summary of User Reviews

Discover the world of modern and contemporary American poetry with ModPo. This course has received great feedback from learners. Many users have praised the interactive and engaging nature of the course, making it easy to follow and comprehend.

Key Aspect Users Liked About This Course

The interactive and engaging nature of the course

Pros from User Reviews

  • Highly engaging and interactive course
  • Easy to follow and comprehend
  • Great resources and materials provided
  • Excellent instruction from knowledgeable professors
  • Provides a deep understanding of modern and contemporary American poetry

Cons from User Reviews

  • Some users found the workload to be overwhelming
  • The course is quite lengthy and requires a significant time commitment
  • The course may not be suitable for beginners in poetry
  • Some users found the discussion forums to be disorganized
  • Some users felt that the peer review process was not helpful

Keywords

English
Available now
Approx. 80 hours to complete
Al Filreis
University of Pennsylvania
Coursera

Instructor

Al Filreis

  • 4.9 Raiting

Recommended for you

Recommended for you

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Modern & Contemporary American Poetry (“ModPo”)

  • 4.9

ModPo is a fast-paced introduction to modern and contemporary U. S. poetry, with an emphasis on experimental verse, from Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman to the present....

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