Theme
Poetry, of Course!
Prof. Alan Helms
January 10, 2007
January 17, 2007
January 24, 2007
January 41, 2007
February 7, 2007
February 14, 2007
February 21, 2007
6:00 – 7:30 pm
Frothingham Library
What did Alexander the Great never travel without, Charles I carry to his beheading, and Jefferson prize more than his presidency?
Poetry, of course! Until World War, II, it was always “poetry, of course,” but in recent years the art has fallen on hard times. What a shame, but lucky us!
The goal of this salon series is to demystify poetry by helping us become adept readers of different kinds of poems (sonnet, lyric, ballad, haiku, etc.) from different periods and cultures. We’ll learn a basic critical vocabulary that will help in analyzing poems and talking about how they’re made, hence why they’re good or bad.
Occasional exercises will be designed to instruct with delight. An incidental reward of this salon will be our own enhanced mastery of language.
TEXT: Western Wind by John Frederick Nims and David Mason (4th edition ).