Skills you'll gain

There are 15 modules in this course

ModPo is open all year, so you can enroll now, or any time, and join us. Each year we host a lively, interactive 10-week session, in which we move together through the ten-week syllabus. The next live 10-week session of ModPo will begin on September 1, 2024, and will conclude on November 11, 2024. Al Filreis will be in touch with you by email before the September 1 start of the course with all the information you'll need to participate. If you have questions, you can email the ModPo team any time at [email protected]. Much more information about ModPo can be found at modpo.org. During the 10 weeks of the course, you will be guided through poems, video discussions of each poem, and community discussions of each poem. And (unique among open online courses) we offer weekly, interactive live webcasts. Our famed TAs also offer office hours throughout the week. We help arrange meet-ups and in-site study groups. If you are curious about the ModPo team, type "ModPo YouTube introduction" into Google or your favorite search engine, and watch the 20-minute introductory video. You will get an overview of the course and will meet the brilliant TAs, who will be encountering the poems with you all the way to the end. If you use Facebook, join the always-thriving ModPo group: from inside Facebook, search for "Modern & Contemporary American Poetry" and then request to be added as a member. If you have any questions about ModPo, you can post a question to the FB group and you'll receive an almost instant reply. Much more information about ModPo can be found at modpo.org . We tweet all year long at @ModPoPenn and you can also find ModPo colleagues using the hashtag #ModPoLive. ModPo is hosted by—and is housed at—the Kelly Writers House at 3805 Locust Walk on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia USA. All ModPo'ers are welcome to visit the Writers House when they are in our area. Our discussions are filmed there. Our live webcasts take place in the famed "Arts Cafe" of the House. To find out what's going on at the Writers House any time, just dial 215-746-POEM.

week 2 (or "module 2")—Whitmanians & Dickinsonians

week 3 (or "module 3")—the rise of poetic modernism: imagism

week 3 (or "module 3") continued—the rise of poetic modernism: Williams

week 4 (or "module 4")—the rise of poetic modernism: Gertude Stein

week 4 (or "module 4") continued—the rise of poetic modernism: modernist edges

week 5 (or "module 5"), part 1 of 4—communist poets of the 1930s

week 5 (or "module 5"), part 2 of 4—the Harlem Renaissance

week 5 (or "module 5"), part 3 of 4—Robert Frost

week 5 (or "module 5), part 4 of 4—formalism of the 1950s

week 6 (or "module 6")—breaking conformity: the beats

week 7 (or "module 7")—the New York School

week 8 (or "module 8")—some trends in recent poetry: L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E

week 9 (or "module 9")—some trends in recent poetry: chance

week 10 (or "module 10")—some trends in recent poetry: conceptualism & unoriginality

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