AKA Poetry As Is
The course is designed to engage students who may not care about poetry and help reveal to them the complexities of the art form, along with its beauty. For me, the word “complexities” has myriad possibilities, and the word “beauty” - however it may be understood – is a crucial element of the allure of all artistic creation. I have always liked John Keats assertion: If eyes were made for seeing/Beauty is its only excuse for being. and his corollary comment: A thing of beauty is a joy forever. I can understand how a student may “not care about poetry,” which I ascribe to an unfortunate experience at some educational level: the teacher telling the student how wrong you are; the teacher insisting on selections that don’t reach the student at all; the atmosphere in the classroom which heightens tension and constrains speech; the proliferation of tests which culminate in stress rather than perception, among other negative factors. One of my favorite poets, Gary Snyder, insists that: Actually, Americans love poetry, pay huge sums of money for it and listen to it constantly. Of course, I’m talking about song. Rock and Roll, ballad and all the other forms of songs are really part of the sphere, that since ancient times, has been what poetry is. My primary focus has been 20th and 21st Century poetry, American, but certainly also Anglo/American. These poets may not all be equally well-known but here are some of the people who have drawn my attention, and still hold it:
- Robert Frost
- Anne Sexton
- Gary Snyder
- Adrienne Rich
- Allen Ginsberg
- Langston Hughes
- Emily Dickinson
- Gwen Brooks
- E. E. Cummings
- Joy Harjo
- Dylan Thomas
- Seamus Heaney
Fall 2026
Dr. Leon Lewis