This course will examine the rise and continuance of the Language Poetry movement in America from 1970 to 1995.
Influenced in different ways by the earlier work of the Objectivists, New York School, San Francisco Renaissance, and Black Mountain poets, Language poets have questioned notions of expressive voice and stable identity, seeking to foreground the word and the complex ways that poetic language transacts the self and the world together. Final course texts will include poetry by Charles Bernstein, Ron Silliman, Lyn Hejinian, Bruce Andrews, Leslie Scalapino, Clark Coolidge, Joan Retallack, and Larry Eigner, among others, alongside provocative essays and essay excerpts by Bernstein, Hejinian, Silliman, and others. You will write two 6-page essays, assorted brief response papers, and two exams. You will also present a class report in tandem
with at least one other student. Class participation is crucial and required.