Department of English

Leaves of Grass, a poetry collection written by Walt Whitman, invented a new way of writing about America. The work transmitted the revolutionary value of free speech, through both its completely free-verse form and its narration of riveting and infinite combinations of bodies, fluids, rivers, leaves, the sun and the sky in the nineteenth-century United States. Whitman—a gay man from New York City—was the virtuosic engine that generated its timeless pages. This One Series course will dive into the life-work of the “American bard,” through class sessions that emphasize the importance of performance, voice, and reading aloud, as well as creative writing and the various new and old methods of engaging with it critically. We will also read from writers of Whitman’s milieu to better understand his work; these writers include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Emily Dickinson. On the whole, this course promises to be fun, following in the footsteps of Whitman’s exuberant, overflowing spirit that sought community above all else. Assignments will include weekly written reflections on the material and a final portfolio that mixes your critical and creative work from throughout the semester.