This course examines poetry, along with poetic practices and theories, from many different languages and cultures, in both oral and written forms. Students are asked to consider how the texts studied represent the contexts from which they originate. Emphasis is placed on how poetry works and on how it provides us with a vehicle for understanding cultures and the differences between them.

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to: 1. Demonstrate a familiarity with a wide range of poems of different styles and from different periods; 2. Analyze the figurative structures within poems; 3. Analyze the meter and phonological devices used in poetry written in English; 4. Analyze the structural patterns most commonly used in poetry written in English; 5. Describe the socio-historical and authorial context of the more important poems studied in the course.