Poetry Cooked and Raw: Emily Dickinson to the Beat Poets

About this course

This literature course examines how twentieth-century poets moved away from regular forms and heightened poetic diction towards freer verse and more natural speech. It considers Dickinson, Eliot, Pound, Frost, Thomas, Auden, Frank O’Hara, Robert Lowell, the Beat poets, confessional writers including Sexton and Plath, and the development of prose poetry. Discussion covers image-based writing, the speaking voice, changing poetic styles, and the relationship between prose poetry and flash fiction. Teaching follows a tutor-led seminar format, with opportunities for participants to read poems aloud and contribute to discussion.

What you'll learn

• Explain some reasons for twentieth-century poetry’s movement towards natural language, freer forms and more direct expression.
• Identify distinctive approaches used by poets including Dickinson, Pound, Frost, Lowell and the Beat poets.
• Discuss changes in poetic style across free verse, confessional poetry and prose poetry.
• Compare prose poetry with flash fiction and consider where the forms may overlap.

Is this course right for you?

The course is designed for learners interested in modern poetry and does not require particular knowledge or skills. Participation takes place through tutor-led seminar discussion, with reading poems aloud offered as an option. Poems and other materials are supplied in advance for participants to read before discussing them.

• No particular prior knowledge or skills are needed.
• The course uses a discussion-led seminar format.
• Reading poems aloud is optional.
• Materials are provided in advance for preparation.

Before you go

• Copies of the poems and other course materials are provided electronically beforehand and on paper for each session.
• Bringing a pen is helpful.