This course exposes students to many of the most influential poets in the English language. We will explore major developments in poetic form, genre, and authorship, in addition to studying discussions among poets and their readers about the ever-shifting nature and aims of poetry. To do so, we will relate these conversations to broader debates in British culture about the rise of science, industry, and empire, gender and class politics, and modernity's relation to the past. The poets on the syllabus include Milton, Behn, Pope, Swift, Gray, Goldsmith, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blake, Barbauld, Byron, Keats, Shelley, Tennyson, the Rossettis, Yeats, and Eliot. Assignments will include weekly blog posts, three quizzes, one short paper (3-4 pages), and one longer final paper (7-9 pages) or project.