Part II: May 1, May 15, May 22, May 29

This poetry discussion group may—or may not—have rhyme; but it has no “reason.” That is, it pretends to no organizing principle other than my own taste. Arranged alphabetically, our text is a small selection from a personal anthology of poems I’ve read and reread, taught and re-taught, over the last quarter of a century. They may or may not relate thematically or formally; if they do, that’s not where their interest lies for me. I love these poems because they reward close attention, because they have provoked conversations both illuminating aesthetically and charged emotionally. They are also “touchstones” for me: when I forget why poetry matters, these poems (and hundreds more, but we only have a few weeks) help remind me that the art is not—as T.S. Eliot said in one of his darker moments—“a mug’s game.”

For the first four weeks of this course (Part I), we will discuss the poems, in alphabetical order, in groups of six per meeting. If, after the first meeting, we want to jump around, and we agree to which poems upon which we wish to jump, that will be fine.

If we’re (still) having fun after April 17, we will consider “re-contracting” for another four meetings after a week’s break. The anthology will be transmitted electronically to participants.

$200 ($180 members)

Anthology poets: Jon Anderson, John Ashbery, John Berryman, Elizabeth Bishop, Stephen Dobyns, John Donne, Alan Dugan, Robert Frost, Louise Gluck, Fulke Greville, Robert Hayden, Seamus Heaney, Zbigniew Herbert, Jane Kenyon, Stanley Kunitz, Phillip Larkin, Phillip Levine, Robert Lowell, Linda McCarriston, Frank O'Hara, George Oppen, Sylvia Plath, William Shakespeare, Gary Snyder, William Stafford, Wallace Stevens, Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, William Wordsworth, James Wright, Thomas Wyatt, W.B. Yeats

Instructor: Steven Cramer, Founding Member, Poet, Director, Low-Residency MFA Program at Lesley University

BIO HERE.

TO REGISTER FOR PART I(Using PayPal or Credit Card)