Critical interpretation and meaning in poems, representing a
variety of types and periods. Poetry is often imagined as making
timeless statements about universal human truths, as being
ethereal, ineffable, and transcendent. Poetry, however, is
always written, printed, sold, and read under specific
circumstances, and this course assumes that these facts matter
to our understanding of a poem--or even to our willingness to
see a text as a poem. With this in mind, we won't simply ask
"What does this poem mean?" Instead, we'll begin by asking "How
is meaning created in this poem?" and then chart how our reading
of a poem shifts depending on our ideas about authorship,
awareness of the poem's historical moment, encounter with a
particular material version of the text, or expectations as
readers. More specifically, we'll consider how knowledge of
authors' biographies might impact our analysis of their work, as
well as how writers have tested the limits of authorship through
collage, erasure, translation, or hoax. We