Department of English

Wallace Stevens, 1879-1955, left nine books of poems, uncollected poems, essays, and letters of extraordinary originality and inventiveness. This is a seminar for those who want to get to know that work well. We will read most of Stevens's Collected Poetry and Prose from the Library of America edition and will draw on other readings from philosophy, the theory of painting, and European modernism and from his American contemporaries, particularly Marianne Moore and William Carlos Williams. Students are required to attend every class session and will prepare weekly brief response papers of 2-3 pages and a final research paper of 15 pages.