Modern American & Modern British Poetry, edited by Louis Untermeyer, was a popular text used in poetry classes in the 1950s. The volume included no blacks, Native-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanics, and only a handful of white women. Within the last twenty years, women have won major prizes; the Poet Laureate of California and The Poet Laureate of San Francisco are Hispanic men. Black writers, who were once on the outs, are the Academy and Native Americans have four million readers. This course will examine how we got to a point where the American poetry landscape became more inclusive and the role that white, brown, black, yellow and red writers and critics played in making this possible. Models of poetry that have been used, successfully, to inspire writings by students will also be studied. In addition, texts will be used to examine how poetry has reflected the spirit of the times.
Modern American & Modern British Poetry, edited by Louis Untermeyer, was a popular text used in poetry classes in the 1950s. The volume included no blacks, Native-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanics, and only a handful of white women. Within the last twenty years, women have won major prizes; the Poet Laureate of California and The Poet Laureate of San Francisco are Hispanic men. Black writers, who were once on the outs, are the Academy and Native Americans have four million readers. This course will examine how we got to a point where the American poetry landscape became more inclusive and the role that white, brown, black, yellow and red writers and critics played in making this possible. Models of poetry that have been used, successfully, to inspire writings by students will also be studied. In addition, texts will be used to examine how poetry has reflected the spirit of the times.