Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
My evening course on American literature is underway! Feel free to sign up and drop by any time between now and November! To join the course and the community, sign up for $10/month at Patreon.com/CloseReadingPoetry.
Week 1: Introduction to American Transcendentalism and Renaissance
Monday September 2, 6pm EST
Readings: Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Nature” (1836); Henry David Thoreau, “Walking” (1862)
Week 2: Emerson’s Essays and Poetry
Monday September 9, 6pm EST
Readings of essays: “The Divinity School Address” (1838) and “Self-Reliance” (1841)
Readings of poems: “Uriel,” “Brahma,” “Concord Hymn,” “Days,” “The Sphinx,” and “The Snow-Storm”
Week 3: Thoreau’s Walden pt. I
Monday September 16, 6pm EST
Readings: Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, Chapter II “Where I Lived, and What I lived for,” III: “Reading,” IV “Sounds, V “Solitude”
Week 4: Thoreau’s Walden pt. II
Monday September 23, 6pm EST
Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, Chapters VI “Visitors,” VIII “The Bean-field,” XI “Higher Laws,” “XV “Winter Animals”
Week 5:Thoreau’s Walden pt. III
Monday September 30, 6pm EST
Readings: Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, Chapters XVII “Spring” and XVIII “Conclusion”
Poems: “Epitaph on the World,” “Low Anchored Cloud Mist,”
Summer Rain”
Week 6: The Poetry and Poetics of Walt Whitman
Monday October 7, 6pm EST
Readings: Walt Whitman Song of Myself and “Preface” to the Leaves of Grass, 1855
Week 7: The Later Poetry of Walt Whitman
Monday October 14, 6pm EST
Readings: Whitman, “Song of the Open Road” and Drum-Taps (1865)
Week 8: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson (Johnson edition)
Monday October 21, 6pm EST
Readings: "The Gentian weaves her fringes" 18
"I never lost as much but twice" 49
"Success is counted sweetest" 67
"Will there really be a 'Morning'" 101
"'Faith' is a fine invention" 185
"I'm 'wife' - I've finished that -" 199
"I taste a liquor never brewed" 214
"Safe in their alabaster chambers" 216
"Wild nights--wild nights" 249
"'Hope' is the thing with feathers" 257
"There's a certain slant of light" 258
"I felt a funeral in my brain" 280
"I'm nobody! Who are you" 288
"The soul selects her own society" 303
"Some keep the Sabbath going to church" 324
"Before I got my eye put out" 327
"A bird came down the walk" 328
Week 9: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson
Monday October 28, 6pm EST
Readings:
"After great pain a formal feeling comes" 341
"Much madness is divinest sense" 435
"This is my letter to the world" 441
"I heard a fly buzz" 465
"I died for beauty, but was scarce" 499
"I started early - Took my Dog -" 520
"The shut me up in prose" 613
"The Brain - is wider than the Sky-" 632
"I cannot live with You -" 640
"Pain has an element of blank" 650
"I dwell in possibility" 657
"To be alive is power" 677
"Because I could not stop for death" 712, 754,
"Split the lark and you'll find the music" 861
"A narrow fellow in the grass" 986
"Tell all the truth but tell it slant" 1129
"A word is dead when it is said" 1212
"Apparently with no surprise" 1624
"My life closed twice before its close" 1732
Week 10: Frederick Douglass and the American Jeremiad
Monday November 4, 6pm EST
Readings: Frederick Douglass, Oration titled “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Week 11: Edgar Allan Poe’s Poetry
Monday November 11, 6pm EST
Readings: “Sonnet: To Science,” “To Helen,” “Israfel,” “The city in the Sea,” “Alone,” “The Raven,” “Annabell Lee.”
Week 12: Herman Melville’s Poetry
Monday November 18, 6pm EST
Readings: from Battle-Pieces “The Portent,” “The March into Virginia,” Shiloh,” “The House-top”; from John Maar and Other Sailors, “The Maldive Shark”; from Timoleon, Etc., “Monody.”
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Study the great works of the American Renaissance with me! At Harvard this fall, I'm teaching an undergraduate course on American Transcendentalism. Based on that course, my Patreon will host a beginner-friendly version that will encourage careful readings of the writings of the American Renaissance, a pivotal moment in which America discovered its distinct literary voice.
We'll read the monumental essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson; explore the sprawling genius of Walt Whitman's verse; encounter the profoundly introspective poetry of Emily Dickinson; plumb the depths of Henry David Thoreau's "Walden"; and read the eloquent jeremiads of Frederick Douglass. Other poets, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Herman Melville, are also included in our readings.
First-time and veteran readers are all warmly welcomed! This is an opportunity for a quality educational experience without pretension or elitism.
We will meet Monday nights 6-8pm EST for a seminar-style class with lecture and guided discussion.
Stay posted for more information or sign up for the lectures at Patreon.com/CloseReadingPoetry
To get access, sign up for the Student-Sponsor Tier on Patreon for $10/month
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After publishing over 12 hours of lectures on English poets this year, I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the year on American poetry. In August we'll begin a mini-course on early American poetry. This will serve as the prelude to our semester-long course on the American Renaissance in the fall!
"Introduction to Early American Poetry" explores the poetic traditions of early America from the colonial period to the early 19th century. We will read and discuss the works of Anne Bradstreet, Philip Freneau, Phillis Wheatley, and several African-American Spirituals, among other poets and poems. As students, we will give special attention to the role of poetry in early American society, culture, and identity. Through lectures, close readings, and discussions, this course will highlight the themes and stylistic features that characterize early American poetry and will consider its lasting impact on the American literary canon.
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We'll also have a guest lecture from Dr. Roshad Meeks (UMass - Amherst) who will introduce us to African American-Spirituals and the vernacular tradition.
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Cost to join Patreon is $10/month. Membership comes with discord community, early access to my YT videos, live-attendance of lectures over Zoom, Tea&Coffee chats with me, and guided discussions (unrecorded) after each lecture. This is a beginner-friendly course - a great way to learn more about American poetry and to discover new poets! To join us, become a Student-Supporter at Patreon.com/CloseReadingPoetry
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Looking forward to our first meeting to discuss Eliot's Four Quartets!
We will read and discuss Four Quartets, a four-part poem composed by T.S. Eliot between 1935 and 1942. The collection represents a zenith of poetic achievement in the 20th century and within Eliot's own career. The sequence, comprising "Burnt Norton," "East Coker," "The Dry Salvages," and "Little Gidding," blends themes of time, memory, roads not taken, states of liminality, and spiritual depression and enlightenment. Eliot's fusion of rich philosophical musings with profound religious insights demands careful, deliberate attention, and readings upon re-readings.
In this reading group for Patreon members, we will meet four times throughout the month of July to slowly read (aloud) and closely read (collaboratively) Eliot's poem. Students will be encouraged to make the poem their own, to discover what resonates with them personally, to seek the hidden harmony of the poem, to cultivate a posture of receptivity before the work, and to intuit the inner logic by which the poem lives and moves.
By the end of the reading group, participants will have gained the following:
- an appreciation of Eliot's art and style;
- an enjoyment of poetry through discussion and analysis;
- a better understanding of Eliot's use of imagery, rhythm, and symbolism;
- and confidence in reading other difficult poems on their own.
Schedule:
We will meet the first four Mondays in July at 6pm EST over Zoom for discussion.
July 1, 6pm EST | "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets
July 8, 6pm EST | "East Coker," Four Quartets
July 10, 6pm EST (Wednesday) | Eliot Guest Lecture on “East Coker” by Andrew Koenig (Harvard University)
July 15, 6pm EST | "Dry Salvages," Four Quartets
July 22, 6pm EST | "Little Gidding," Four Quartets
Get the meeting links on Patreon.com/CloseReadingPoetry
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Join us on Midsummer's Day for a free lecture & discussion on John Keats!
On February 27, 1818, John Keats wrote to his friend John Taylor the following passage:
"In Poetry I have a few Axioms, and you will see how far I am from their Centre. 1st I think Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by Singularity—it should strike the Reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a Remembrance--"
But what does Keats mean when he says that “Poetry should surprise by a fine excess”? This lecture answers this question by looking carefully at some instances of fine excess in some of his Odes.
As many of you know, for the past three weeks, the student-members on Patreon and I have been closely reading and discussing John Keats's Odes, the pinnacle of his poetic achievement. Next week, I’m hosting this free lecture and discussion to help us celebrate this poet of fine excess. It’s been about 6 months since I started teaching on Patreon, and the support here has enabled me to produce more content than ever before. You’ll notice on my YouTube that the length and amount of videos have increased since I found financial support for my work. And all of that is thanks to my past and current paid subscribers on here.
The lecture will take place Monday, noon (12pm) EST over Zoom. Get the Zoom link by becoming a free member on my Patreon at: Patreon.com/CloseReadingPoetry
So brew a cup of tea, bring your copy of Keats, and see what it's like to be a student-member!
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Coming up this summer on YouTube ~
The lecture recordings of the Devotional Poets course will be released in June, followed by a series of videos on the canon of English poetry around July!
To give you a sense of what we do on Patreon, here are some Patreon-exclusive events this month ~
Our first book club begins Monday June 3rd at 6pm EST. Whether you are new to Keats or have been a life-long reader of his work, I hope you’ll feel at home at these meetings. These meetings will be discussion-based (not lectures). Arrive having read the poems assigned for the day. We will collaboratively close-read the odes together. I'll post a guided question or prompt ahead of each reading to get us started. For those who want to just watch and not participate, you are totally welcome to do so. I want to facilitate a friendly environment in which all feel comfortable contributing (or not!) according to your individual preferences. There are no dumb questions, no poor observations!
Birthday Celebrations involve gathering to read and discuss poems on poets' birthdays. Bring a poem of your choosing to read or come to listen and learn!
Looking Ahead ~
In July, I'll host a book club on T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, which will conclude a lecture by a modernist specialist. This is a beautiful -- if not sometimes forbidding -- poem that we'll read and discuss together!
In the fall, I'll host two courses on American literature. More info soon.
If you're interested in joining us, find more information at Patreon.com/CloseReadingPoetry
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Hi, all! Dr. Kara McCabe, one of the administrators at the Antrim Literature Project, is hosting this free, online course on Shakespeare's late romances! Learn more about it on the website here:
www.antrimliteratureproject.org/courses-summer-202…
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With some ideas for summer content, I'm wondering which ideas to prioritize. What would you all like to see more of?
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Book Club this June 🎉 Available on Patreon to the Sponsor-Student tier ($10/month). This is a great way to encounter Keats with other readers and to support my educational work on YouTube.
What's a poem of Keats like? It's hard to describe. If Milton's Paradise Lost is a cathedral, Keats's sonnets are dewy bowers to spend the warm moon under. If reading Shakespeare's plays are like walking into a spring carnival full of amusements and every manner of person, reading a Keats ode is like walking into a thatched-roofed hermitage decorated with a cottage-core, maximalist aesthetic.
He is like no other Romantic poet. Where Coleridge gives us spiritual crisis, Keats gives us syncretic enthusiasm; where Wordsworth gives us passion tranquilized into spiritual vision, Keats fans passion into a flame to light a garden path; where Shelley gives us prophetic strains that rise above the din of political tumult, Keats casts intoxicating spells like a priest of nature tending to secret rites; where Byron makes Pope's correctness soar on new wings, Keats transcends his sorrows with flights of longing and fancy. Come experience Keats's poetry for yourself this midsummer!
Here are the readings chosen by the community on Patreon. More info to come at Patreon.com/CloseReadingPoetry
June 3: "Ode to Psyche" and the sonnet "To Spenser"
June 10: "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and the sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer"
June 17: "Ode on Melancholy" and the sonnet "The day is gone, and all its sweetness gone"
June 24: "Ode to Indolence" and the sonnet "To Sleep"
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Dr. Abigail Rawleigh, a friend of mine at the Antrim Literature Project, is hosting this free, summer course on the poetry of Emily Dickinson! I know several of you have been wanting to study her poetry. I hope you'll apply!
Sign up here:
www.antrimliteratureproject.org/courses-summer-202…
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Welcome to my channel, where I make the study of poetry available to readers outside the university.
I'm a PhD candidate of English literature at Harvard University, and I started this channel in 2021 after I noticed that most "close reading" demonstrations online only give the plain summary of a poem. Experiencing poetry is so much more than just learning what the poet could have said if he or she had written a paragraph instead of a poem. I started this channel to show how poetry can be enjoyed as a verbal art form.
Close reading requires careful and reverent attention to the shape of sound and meaning. It helps readers have an imaginative encounter with poetry and cultivates the conditions under which a love of literature may be learned and deepened.
Thanks for stopping by!
Be in touch with questions/comments at adamgagewalker@gmail.com