In this course we will explore the scope and limits of the lyric poem: its penchant for introspection and irony, its forms of intimacy and exclusion, its skepticism about and passion for its project. We will consider how the formal elements of the lyric poem (such as versification, tone, image, and syntax) work to dramatize these concerns in ways that shift over time. Readings will include poems by Donne, Blake, Coleridge, Keats, Tennyson, Dickinson, Yeats, and Berryman, among others, as well as critical essays on the nature of lyric poetry. Format: discussion/seminar. Requirements: active class participation and four writing assignments, amounting to twenty pages of writing. Prerequisite: a 100-level English course, except 150. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 19). Preference to first- and second-year students and majors who have yet to take a Gateway. This course is writing intensive. (1700-1900 or Post-1900)