We will focus on the first (or near-first) and last (or near-last) book of several authors of poetry with an intense exploration and dissection of the prosodic tools deployed in each book. We will investigate and compare/contrast the structure of the books including order of poems, sections and section titles, and how the poems themselves are written. Each author will also be accompanied by a survey of their middle period to see how authors explored their obsessions at multiple angles. We will use this knowledge toward the weekly creation of our own poems. Students will read an average of one poetry collection a week, write weekly critical response papers, and prepare a final paper and portfolio of poems at the end of the term.

Corequisite: Students are required to attend all Literature Evenings and Poetry at Bennington events (typically held on Wednesdays at 7:00pm).