This course will begin to explore the image and the persona of the ‘other’ in American poetry. Beginning with Longfellow’s Hiawatha and Walt Whitman’s catalogues of other in “Song of Myself” and ending in the phenomenon of Slam and Rap Poetry. Although the emphasis is on the phenomenon and not the writers, the poets studied will include Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Sharon Olds, Allen Ginsberg, Naomi Shihab Nye, Muriel Rukeyser, Robert Hass, Joy Harjo, and others.

The readings will be available on the Virtual TAU site.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

There will be a midterm examination, a short paper on a single work, and a final examination.