LIT106 CM - Gay Poets, Poems, Poetry

This class is a survey of 20th century American gay poets, with a look back at Whitman, Cavafy, Lorca, Pasolini, and Sappho. There will be close readings of poems by W. H. Auden, H.D. Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Hart Crane, James Baldwin, Frank O’Hara, Robert Hayden, Elizabeth Bishop, James Merrill, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, Thom Gunn, May Swenson, James Schuyler, Mary Oliver, Kay Ryan, Frank Bidart and others. The class will consider questions such as: Do social identities change the words we write? Do same-sex affinities affect poetic composition. Are gay poets alike, with a unique gay perspective, language, and style? The answer, we may find, is a resounding NO, but the study of these American poets (with consideration of earlier gay poetry) will illuminate a remarkable river of literature about the body, sexuality, desire, and same-sex love.

Offered: Every other year

Credit: 1

Course Number: LIT 106 CM