Welcoming poets at any level, and writers of any medium, this course focuses on poetry as a healing sorceress. Not a quick-fix diet, nor a quagmire of tedium, the poets and poems we will consider engage forms of wisdom, some of which may be hiding in plain sight. In five sessions we will look at Elizabethan poets; French poets of the late 1800’s, the Modernists, American, British and other; poetry since the 1950’s; and poetry translated from other languages during the last 50 years. The course’s title, taken from Yeats’ “Lapis Lazuli,” refers to Art’s resonance, a healing and restorative power which turns even tragedy into human experience to be survived, even loved. Specific poets we will consider include Fulke Greville, Shakespeare, Robert Herrick, Ben Jonson; Hugo, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, La Forgue; Yeats, Eliot, Stevens, Moore; Frank O’Hara, Derek Walcott, Robert Pinsky, Louise Gluck,, Rosanna Warren; and Cavafy, Hikmet, Villon and Machado.

Please note: This class is an online class. To participate, students must have a stable internet connection and a computer or device with a webcam and microphone.