Poems, Poetry, Worlds

What is poetry? What can Poetry do? What can we do with Poetry? How does it speak in many voices to questions of philosophy, history, society, and personal experience? Why does it matter? The readings address poetry of several cultures in comparative relation to that of the English-speaking world, and in light of different theories of poetry. The reading include over one hundred poems from the book of Psalms, by William Shakespeare, Yehuda Ha'levi, Emily Dickinson, William Carlos Williams, Dan Pagis, Yehuda Amichi, Allen Ginsberg, Joseph Brodsky, Louise Gluck, Elizabeth Bishop, Du Fu, Pablo Neruda, Holderlin, Paul Tran, Ocean Vuong, and many more.