ENGL 353(S) Modern Poetry
We will explore the effects of two of the most influential poets of this century, William Butler Yeats and Wallace Stevens, on the work of two more recent poets: James Merrill and John Ashbery. We will explore the tangled and controversial means by which Yeats and Stevens, writing chiefly between the two World Wars, tied the political, social, and intellectual ferment of the era to the fate of poetry. Both dire and admiring accounts of their work point to a central impulse to aestheticize political and philosophical problems. Considering such issues as occultism, nationalism, and unrequited love in the poetry of Yeats, we will explore the ways in which they are transmuted in Merrill's gay epic, The Changing Light at Sandover. We will further examine the roles of aristocratic bias and proto-fascism in Yeats' and Merrill's work, as well as critics' tendencies to equate these impulses. Exploring themes such as cosmopolitanism, isolationism, and insurance in Stevens' work, we will consider how they inform Ashbery's meditations on the role of the city, of accident, and of awakenings from political numbness on contemporary American consciousness. We will consider the ways in which all these poets' work both invite and elude accusations of self-reflexive lyricizing. Requirements: two 8- to 10-page papers. Prerequisite: a 100-level English course, except 150 (formerly 103). Enrollment limited to 25.