English Graduate Courses: Spring 2027
| Course | Course Description |
|---|---|
| ENGL 6350: American Literature and Culture: Nineteenth-Century American Women’s Writing Tuesdays, 4:30-7:00pm, Kylan Rice |
In this course, we’ll consider the literary historical significance of poetry and prose written by nineteenth-century American women. The nineteenth century saw the advent of the professional female author, giving women unprecedented access to expanding reading publics. As they rose to popular prominence, women writers wielded increasing cultural and political clout, even as they were forced to navigate restrictive gender norms that limited their how their work moved through print networks and how they were remembered subsequently. Looking at poems, poetry collections, novels, novellas, short stories, memoirs, and journalism by female authors from a variety of regional, racial, and economic backgrounds will allow us to interrogate the politics of literary canonization while applying critical methodologies that shed light on the cultural work of women’s writing and the countertraditions and minoritarian aesthetics that women developed as they sought to claim their place in the nineteenth-century literary landscape. At the same time, this class will present an opportunity to study pivotal moments in nineteenth-century U.S. history (such as westward expansion, the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, Reconstruction, and the rise of mass culture) and investigate the role that female writers played in shaping the course of these events. Readings will include selections from Lydia Sigourney, Elizabeth Oakes Smith, Frances Sargent Osgood, Margaret Fuller, Emily Dickinson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Jacobs, Margaret Junkin Preston, Adah Isaacs Menken, Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt, Harriet Prescott Spofford, Constance Fenimore Woolson, Sarah Orne Jewett, Rebecca Harding Davis, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Pauline E. Hopkins, among others. |
| ENGL 6883: Multimodal Poetry Workshop: Collaboration, Experimentation & Process Mondays, 4:30-7:00pm, C. R. Grimmer |
What happens when poetry moves beyond the page? How might working with other artists change the way we write? In this graduate poetry workshop, we'll explore how poets experiment across artistic disciplines and media to discover new possibilities for their writing. We'll study contemporary poets such as Douglas Kearney, Diana Khoi Nguyen, Layli Long Soldier, and Dao Strom, whose work challenges conventional ideas about what poetry looks and sounds like. We will explore how poets working from historically marginalized identities and experiences challenge the boundaries of literary traditions, as well as what happens when forms often treated as peripheral to poetry become central to its meaning. Through our readings, we'll consider how experimentation with poetic form can also challenge the cultural assumptions that shape whose voices are heard, whose stories are preserved, and what counts as poetry. We will spend most of our time together workshopping our own writing and art, with an emphasis on experimentation rather than perfection. You don't need to consider yourself an experienced poet or have a particular style of writing to participate. Instead, we'll use readings and creative exercises to explore unfamiliar approaches and discover what happens when we move beyond our usual writing practices. Our workshops will provide a supportive space for sharing works in progress while developing the skills to offer thoughtful feedback and revise our own work. A central part of the course will involve collaborating with students in printmaking and book arts to create original projects that bring poetry into conversation with other artistic practices. These exchanges will invite us to consider how the materials and methods we use shape what we can communicate, and how experimenting across disciplines might open possibilities for stories and experiences that conventional forms have sometimes excluded. Above all, this course approaches poetry as something we discover through making, experimenting, and exchanging ideas. Whether you're hoping to deepen an existing poetry practice or simply curious about trying something new, the goal is not to arrive with expertise but to leave with new possibilities for your writing. |