COMPLIT 10AX: Poetry and the Imagination: A Writing Workshop

Course Description

The word "poet" comes to us from an Ancient Greek word meaning "creator or maker." What are the tools the poet-maker uses to say the unsayable and the not-yet-said? How does poetry create worlds, and how does the imagination bring them to life? In what ways does poetry serve as political action, fueling and reflecting protest, social change, and reconciliation? Through the close reading of poems, we'll consider the capaciousness of poetry to hold multiple perspectives on subjects as wide-ranging as love, war, social and environmental crises, our selves, and the selves of those around us. Readings will serve as springboards for poetry assignments that explore the many ways of meaning-making.