This course is an introduction to modern and contemporary American poetry, following (mostly) the avant-garde "tradition" from Dickinson through word-as-such modernists to various kinds of contemporary poetries that follow (more than repudiate) modernism. While the course functions as a discussion (no lectures), it should not be confused with a topically focused "advanced" seminar; it is a introductory survey, especially apt for graduate students who do not yet have a whole sense of the long twentieth century in U.S. poetry. In short, this is a "true" 500-level course. Poets discussed include H.D., Williams, Stein, Elsa von Freytag Loringhoven, Millay, Lorine Niedecker, Rolfe, Taggard, Eastman, Bob Brown, Rukesyer, Ruth Lechlitner, Cullen, Hughes, McKay, Wilbur, Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg, Kerouac, Rich, Creeley, Ashbery, Koch, O'Hara, Berrigan, Hejinian, Howe, Mayer, Bernstein, Silliman, Perelman, Cage, Mac Low, Stefans, Toscano, Osman, and others. If you have questions about the course, contact Al Filreis directly: afilreis@english.upenn.edu.