IN PERSON: English Renaissance poets lived during enormous personal, political, and religious change. As in our time, their poetry addressed love, courtship, marriage, family, religious fervor, politics, city and country life, the finality of death, and simple self-expression. We will explore the works of Wyatt, Sidney, Shakespeare, Spenser, Jonson, Donne, Milton, Marvell, and others, as well as lesser-known women poets such as Amelia Lanier, Lady Mary Wroth, and Queen Elizabeth I herself. Students will come to understand forms such as the sonnet, the epyllion, the country house and “carpe diem” poems, the metaphysical conceit, and the elegy, which still stand as models for later and more contemporary poetry. We will converse with these poets through lecture, close reading, recitation, and discussion to understand their world and to enjoy their contributions to our shared literary history. To benefit from this course, students need only an interest in poetry or the early modern period in England. | Lecture + Q&A.
Max enrollment: 20.
Location: Judea Reform Congregation, 1933 W. Cornwallis Rd, Durham NC 27705
