Talk about Langston Hughes and Walt Witman
Over the course of the semester, we have read a number of works of public intellectual criticism about many poets on our syllabus. Works of public intellectual criticism appear all over: not only in literary magazines like
the New Yorker, the Atlantic, and the Paris Review, but also in other cultural publications, newspapers, and on social media. For your final assessment in this course, you will compose your own long-form piece of public intellectual criticism.
Begin by choosing a poet you’d like to work with; you may also write about a pair of poets, or a small set (no more than three, for essay length reasons). If you’d like to write about a poet we’ve come across in our reading but haven’t discussed at length, or a poet who hasn’t come up in our class at all, let me know, and we’ll chat about your ideas.
In your essay, you will use the skills you developed in the first two essays, and add another:
* Close read at least one poem in your essay. Please choose a poem by a poet on our syllabus, and try to choose a poem that we have read together. Cite words, phrases, lines, and stanzas (in block quotations) and offer a close reading analysis.
* Enter into dialogue with at least one other critic. This critic might be a scholar, or another public intellectual. Review the Dialogic Essay assignment for guidance on locating this criticism.
+ Engage in personal reflection. You might want to comment on past or current historical events that are important to your understanding of this poet, or you might want to offer a memoir-style personal narrative.
For models, revisit Matthew Zapruder’s Why Poetry, which weaves personal narrative together with close reading analysis, or Adam Gopnik’s “The Double Man,” which relates Auden’s poetry to world historical events: World War II and September 11, 2001.
In an essay of no fewer than 2,000 words, and no more than 3,500, you will offer your own answer to the question, why poetry? What, in your view, is the value of reading poetry today?
Note that many of the critics we have read have addressed this question quite implicitly. You will aim to give a more explicit answer—that’s also personal to you!
You will also write to a broad, generalist public. Show your readers why the poet (or poets) you’ve chosen are important to read today. How does this poet help you understand something about yourself (and how can your readers better understand themselves by reading about your experience)? Or, how does this poet help us better understand the world we live in?
Required:
One essay between 2,000 and 3,500 words, complete with in-texts citations and a Works Cited list in the MLA style, submitted by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, May 6.
Talk about Langston Hughes and Walt Witman
