English 229 - African American Poetry
Danielle Elliott
TTh 10:30-11:50

This survey course explores the diverse poetic contributions made by African Americans.  We examine several movements in poetry from the earliest black poets (Phillis Wheatley and Lucy Terry) to contemporary poetry published in the twenty-first century (Rita Dove and Elizabeth Alexander).  Rather than a steady chronological march through the more than three hundred years of poetry, we will read clusters of poems that best illustrate particular styles, movements, eras, and recurrent themes including: jazz poetry, poetry of social commentary, the Black Arts Movement, modernist lyrics, black feminism, and avant-garde poetics.  Emphasis on critical close reading and analysis.