Studies in 20th Century American Literature – Ecopoetry & Ecopoetics

An introduction to and eclectic survey of modern poetry addressing human relations with the more than human world in an age of planetary transformation.

We’ll read mostly poetry by American writers of the 20th and early 21st centuries, though we’ll turn further back in time for a few important historical precursors (e.g., Walt Whitman). More recent poets whose work we’ll read will include, among others, John Ashbery, Nikki Giovanni, C.S. Giscombe, Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, Langston Hughes, Robinson Jeffers, Ada Limón, W.S. Merwin, dg nanouk okpik, Sun Ra, Muriel Rukeyser, John Shoptaw, and Gary Snyder. We’ll also read selected critical texts on the history, poetics, and practice of this vital, diverse literary genre.

Graded course requirements include leading seminar discussions of two poems selected by the student from US Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s recent anthology Poetry in the Natural World (2024), and a final long writing project. The project may take the form of a research paper or a creative work.