This discussion course is designed to introduce students considering the major to the study of lyric poetry by raising three fundamental questions: How does one read a lyric? How does one talk about a lyric? How does one write about a lyric? In the first half of the course, we will read groups of poems from a range of historical periods in order to examine the various elements that make a poem a poem (tone, image, rhetorical persuasion, lyric audience, versification, form). In the second half of the semester we will focus on two writers, John Donne and John Keats, to see how an individual poet uses and adapts lyric conventions to develop a distinctive style and vision. Students will also have an opportunity to analyze lyric criticism, and to put it to use in their final essay. Requirements: active classroom participation, frequent short writing assignments, and a final 7-page paper. Prerequisite: a 100-level English course, except 150. Enrollment limit:19 (expected: 19). (Criticism)