Freshman Seminar
Reading and Reciting Great Poems in English
People today don’t have enough poetry in their heads, and everyone should be able to recite one or two of their favorite poems. In addition to its purely personal benefits, knowing some poetry by heart has practical applications: in a tough job interview, you can impress the prospective boss by reciting just the right line, say, from Dylan Thomas: “do not go gentle into that good night/rage rage against the dying of the light.” Or at a party sometime, you’ll be able to show off with a bit of T.S. Eliot: “in the room the women come and go, talking of Michelangelo.”
In this class we will read a number of “classic” poems as well as a number of other (perhaps lesser, but still memorable) poems, and discuss them. The poems cut across centuries and types, and students will encouraged to find other poems for the group to read.
Students will be required to memorize and recite between 50 and 75 lines of poetry throughout the semester. In addition, students will prepare a short anthology of their favorite poems, with an explanatory introduction for each poem.