Contemporary American Poetry

If we are to believe Wallace Stevens that -the poet is the priest of the invisible-, then poetry can be said to be all about the mind: how it perceives, interprets, and impresses upon our awareness a notion of an objective reality at any given moment. Yet while living in a time when nobody is paying courtly bards to praise the achievements of notable noblemen, we may wonder about the performers, authors, and audiences of contemporary poetry. Indeed, serious cultural interest in poetry seems not to be what it used to be. This course, however, is not looking for the place of poetry's reading public. Instead it offers an invitation to move you, eager reader, out of your comfort zone and to give poetry a chance -to enjoy you- (E.E. Cummings).As we will soon see, poetry plays by certain rules that do not need special decoding devices to be understood. Hence, to make you a diligent and emotive part of the reading public we will delve into a number of topics and debates as triggered by a synchronic study of both canonical twentieth century American poetry and more contemporary examples from the realms of the blogosphere and the open mic-stages of the nation's poetry slams. In doing so, we will ponder what makes the American poem American and explore the various forms, rhetorics, and aesthetics of contemporary American poetry -- from Ai to Jay-Z. Please buy a copy of each of the following books: • T.S. Eliot: The Waste Land (1922) [recommended edition: ISBN 9780393974997] • Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz: Hot Teen Slut (2011) [recommended edition: ISBN 9781935904687] You may start reading these during the semester break. Further texts will be provided in class. Recommended further reading: • Rita Dove (ed.): The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century American Poetry (2013) [ISBN: 9780143121480] • Oliver Scheiding, René Dietrich, Clemens Spahr (eds.): A History of American Poetry: Contexts - Developments - Readings [ISBN: 9783868216103] Bemerkung To attend this course, you must register online. You must be present in the first session in order to secure a place in the course. Anglistik - Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft Beachten Sie, dass Sie diesen Kurs nach den Prüfungsordnungen ab 2011 nicht besuchen dürfen, wenn Sie die für dieses Modulelement laut Fachspezifischen Bestimmungen und Modulhandbuch notwendigen Voraussetzungen noch nicht erfüllen. 2 CP or 3 LP SL: regular, active participation AND successful critical assessment and performance of a poem from the course list 5 CP: -2 LP / 3 LP SL” PLUS researching a bibliography with at least 10 different sources (min. 6 print sources) on one of the topics from the syllabus; deadline: July 15, 2016 3 LP PL or 7 CP: written term paper (3.500-4.500 words) to be handed in by August 18, 2016; topic must have been discussed during my office hours prior to July 20, 2016 [7CP = -2 LP / 3 LP Studienleistung” AND -3 LP PL” Universität Siegen 20161 SoSe 2016 Dr. Hartwig Marcel