Major Authors, 1900-Present: T. S. Eliot and Anne Bishop--Online [***]

This asynchronous online course focuses on two major twentieth-century American poets: T .S. Eliot and Elizabeth Bishop.  The course is designed for advanced undergraduates with experience in English classes (including creative writing) and graduate students.

Though quite different in style, Eliot and Bishop are the major American symbolist poets in the tradition of Baudelaire. Both created poems out of the “luminous details” of daily life. Both grew up at the margins of the literary world (Eliot in St. Louis, Bishop in Nova Scotia) and lived much of their lives in foreign countries (Eliot in England, Bishop in Brazil). This self-imposed exile made them acute observers of the beliefs and customs of their native and adopted lands. We will read and study their main poetic works, including:

Eliot, Prufrock and Other Observations, The Waste Land, “The Hollow Men,” Sweeney Agonistes, Ash-Wednesday, Four Quartets

Bishop, North and South, A Cold Spring, Questions of Travel, and Geography III as well as essays and letters by these prolific correspondents.

Course work will include reading and writing, both individually and in collaboration with other students. There will also be individually scheduled conversations via zoom as a form of assessment.