CRWR 185 A-Z - Special Topics

Semester Hours: 3

Current Special Topics

CRWR 185R - Poetry of Witness

Poetry of Witness
“In the dark times, will there also be singing?
Yes, there will be singing.
About the dark times.”
–Bertolt Brecht

In this workshop, we will study “poetry of witness,” a genre of poetry described by Carolyn Forche in her anthology Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness written by “significant poets who endured conditions of historical and social extremity during the twentieth century through exile, state censorship, political persecution, house arrest, torture, imprisonment, military occupation, warfare and assassination.” Poems that “bear the trace of extremity within them, and [that] are, as such, evidence of what occurred.” We will expand upon Forche’s definition of the poetry of witness and study how poets bear witness to their own lives and the world in general in poems about disability, racism, health issues, domestic violence, sexual abuse, etc.

In addition to writing a new poem every other week, each student will give an oral presentation on a poetry collection chosen from a recommended reading list, which includes poets Natasha Trethewey, Bruce Weigel, Tom Sleigh, Brian Turner, and Joy Harjo. Required reading includes the following books: Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness, edited by Carolyn Forche; Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability, edited by Jennifer Bartlett, Sheila Black & Michael Northen; Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine; Dien Cai Dau by Yusef Komunyakaa; A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson; Off Duty by Katie Donovan; Little Witness by Connie Roberts; Mama Amazonica by Pascale Petit.

CRWR 185S - Sad Girls, Honey

Sad Girls, Honey focuses on the study of poetry and poetic techniques through the music and poetry made by what society deems as “sad girls.” Specifically, the course includes studies and workshops based on original sad girl poets like Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson to artists from the modern pop music canon like Lana Del Rey, SZA, Mitski, and perhaps the most popular and prolific female lyricist of all, Taylor Swift.

Prerequisite(s)/Course Notes:
WSC 001  and CRWR 133 . May be repeated for credit when topics vary. As individual subjects are selected, each is assigned a letter (A-Z) which is affixed to the course number. Specific titles and course descriptions for special topics courses are available in the online class schedule.

View Course Offering(s):

Summer I 2025

Summer II 2025

Summer III 2025

Fall 2025