ENGL 273 Contemporary American Poetry

American poetry has resurged in cultural and political significance in the 21st century. Poets have reframed the nation's controversies and recovered its forgotten histories. Notably, poets have shifted American consciousness without losing sight of artistic experimentation. Poetic genres, in this course, are more than familiar literary conventions.  They are ways of thinking and feeling. Poets experiment with literary form in hopes of staying true to the nation's complexities. Fragmentation, intertextuality, ekphrasis, and erasure are all crucial techniques for exploring beauty, mental health and disability, immigration and war. This course will examine several award winning poets, including Kevin Young, Molly McCully Brown, Robin Coste Lewis, Solmaz Sharif, and Philip Metres.