英語中級（クラス指定ターム型）

Form in Poetry. A workshop. This class uses poetry as a way to understand the deep connection between poetic language and everyday language in English. What poets and poems are important for understanding English? What lines from poetry are so famous that they have become a part of everyday speech? And in what ways does poetic language signify as “poetry” distinct from ordinary speech? On the other hand, do the mechanics of poetry (e.g. meter, rhyme) ever affect how we talk today, and if so, how? (The answer here is yes, all the time.) Does studying those mechanics help us to get a more natural feel for the logic and flow of the English language? (The answer is yes here too.)

This course will cover a few of the major authors and movements in the history of lyric poetry in the English language. It is not an exhaustive overview, but it will at least provide a general framework for understanding the history of poetry in English.

Class time will be spent mostly on close reading. We will get deep into the grammatical/syntactic structure, we will explore word choice, and we will uncover how meter and rhyme contribute to the construction of meaning.

In addition to reading, students will have several assignments outside of class. 1) As a way to get intimate with poetic form and the aesthetic concerns proper to poetry, they will write and workshop their own poems imitating the voice/style of specific authors. 2) As a way to see how the specifics of language come to bear on poetry, they will translate poems from one language into another. 3) As a way to become intimate with the cadences of poetic language, students will memorize and recite a poem of their choice in their a final project.

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