Reading & Composition

With the exception of Goethe and Shakespeare, who are known as universal literary geniuses, all of the writers we will be reading this semester are known primarily as poets. While genre is not always defining of a writer (that is, writers can create successfully across genre), the qualities that make a great poet do not necessarily make a great dramatist or prose artist. In an attempt to get closer to the peculiarities of genre, we will be reading the poetry, prose and plays of several poets through the ages.

Books Required (with ISBN-10 in parenthesis):

Rudolph Flesch, The Classic Guide to Better Writing (0062730487)

Goethe, Elective Affinities (0140442421)

Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar (0061148512)

Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet (0486422453)

Edgar Roberts, Writing About Literature:Brief 11th Edition (0131540564)

Shakespeare, Macbeth (0743477103)

Course Reader (available at Copy Central)