LIT 2030 - Summer 2025 - Wilhelm

“Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?” So goes a line from Mary Oliver’s poem “Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches.” In this course, students will have the chance to study poetry and its elements—things like musicality, imagery, meter, metaphor, and form. Through our close and critical inspection of celebrated poets from a variety of eras, from Shakespeare all the way up to Yusef Komunyakaa and those writing in 2025, this course will create a solid foundation for students interested in thoroughly analyzing, understanding, and enjoying the art of poetry. There will also be opportunities to write poetry in this course.