Ranging from canonical and mainstream to contemporary and niche poems, the first-semester advanced What Does Poetry Do? elective at Tower Hill explores it all. This class, offered to juniors and seniors, contains challenging content and frequent use of critical thinking skills to explore the extent to which poetry is used in reading, writing, and performing.
The Poetry elective poses the question, “what can poetry do, and for whom?” Dr. Huttner, instructor of the course, stated “This class is focused on paying attention to and working on reading poetry and the reading process, cultivating comfort with complex text, and being comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Rather than feeling the need to fully understand and analyze each poem the class reads correctly, students are instead encouraged to interpret and engage with the works through their own terms, an approach not traditionally taught in general English courses.
The variety of genres and historical eras taught in this course sets it apart from its novel-based counterparts. “Each unit was a different genre, and a whole section of the semester was focused on Leaves of Grass (a poetry collection by Walt Whitman),” said Zaden Lockwood, a junior who took the course this past semester. “And we also talked about Transcendentalism a lot.”
Not only is reading a part of the course, but a large portion of the curriculum focuses on writing poems as well. Students work on writing their own poems, reading their peers’, and giving each other feedback and revision. This discussion-based course assigned various essays and writing, ultimately cultivating student’s creative writing and analytical skills. Ranging from smaller, niche poems to larger collections by Walt Whitman, students ultimately took from the class that poems are not meant to be solved, and instead are art that is to be marveled at.
Although poetry is art, students who are not interested in art should not be afraid to take this course. Zaden, an individual who believed his lack of artistic ability would hinder his understanding of the content, now emphasizes “I changed my mind about poetry. At first, I thought it was too artsy and thought that I had to be good at art, however now I think that anyone can be good at poetry and get inspired.”
So to any rising juniors or seniors, do not let your perception of a course stop you from wanting to take it, because who knows? Perhaps you might like it more than you would think.