1) What do you honestly think you will retain from this course in five years? 2) What do you hope that you retain from this course in five years (even if it strikes you as unlikely)?
Ok, so to be honest, I think that in 5 years what I will remember from this class is that 18th century poetry was about sex and bodily functions. I hope to remember the diversity of subjects addressed by the poets of the 18th C, not just sex and flatulence, but strange subjects like Isabella Kelly's elegy of her dead chicken or Hannah Griffitts lamentation on tea.
In five years I will most likely remember the fact that women authors frequently 'negated' their own work in their introductions, a habit I myself engage in. By negated I am referring to the forwards that seemed to always include something along the lines of "I do not consider my poetry anything great, but I have been pressured to share it". Hopefully by that time I will no longer hedge my own ideas in that manner.
What do I hope I won't forget... the amusing conversation about compost heaps? How much I enjoyed reading poetry for the first time in my life? I actually hope I don't forget much, except how miserably sick I am right now.
I think what I will remember from this course specifically is the way in which female voices were used in the 18th century, and how they were subsequently dismissed in the 19th century. I feel there was a very early feminist construction within a lot of the poems that we encountered that precede other examples of "strong female voices," especially within the Milcah Martha Moore miscellany. There is a remarkable ebb and flow of women using their voices throughout time, and this is a particularly intriguing example.
I hope to remember "Holt Water," "The Woman's Labour," and "Written for my Son..." as all of these poems struck me as particularly witty and poignant, each in their own respect.
Welcome to the course blog for Women and Poetry in the Eighteenth Century, an advanced composition course in the Department of English at UIUC. Click here for the course syllabus.
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3 comments:
Ok, so to be honest, I think that in 5 years what I will remember from this class is that 18th century poetry was about sex and bodily functions. I hope to remember the diversity of subjects addressed by the poets of the 18th C, not just sex and flatulence, but strange subjects like Isabella Kelly's elegy of her dead chicken or Hannah Griffitts lamentation on tea.
I love the video!
In five years I will most likely remember the fact that women authors frequently 'negated' their own work in their introductions, a habit I myself engage in. By negated I am referring to the forwards that seemed to always include something along the lines of "I do not consider my poetry anything great, but I have been pressured to share it". Hopefully by that time I will no longer hedge my own ideas in that manner.
What do I hope I won't forget... the amusing conversation about compost heaps? How much I enjoyed reading poetry for the first time in my life? I actually hope I don't forget much, except how miserably sick I am right now.
I think what I will remember from this course specifically is the way in which female voices were used in the 18th century, and how they were subsequently dismissed in the 19th century. I feel there was a very early feminist construction within a lot of the poems that we encountered that precede other examples of "strong female voices," especially within the Milcah Martha Moore miscellany. There is a remarkable ebb and flow of women using their voices throughout time, and this is a particularly intriguing example.
I hope to remember "Holt Water," "The Woman's Labour," and "Written for my Son..." as all of these poems struck me as particularly witty and poignant, each in their own respect.
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