Class Description

Originating in Sicily in the 13th Century, the sonnet (from the Italian sonetto, “little song”) is a beloved form for English-language poets, beginning in the 16th Century with Sir Phillip Sidney. In the 500 years that have followed, the sonnet has been used — and changed — by poets to think through big questions about existence, love, and morality. Over the 8 weeks of this survey course, we will read through chronological examples of the sonnet to consider shifts in style over time. We will also cover the formal elements of the sonnet (e.g., prosody, rhyme scheme) to provide students with a working basic understanding of these elements. Each week, students enrolled in the class will be provided with a packet of sonnets to be covered during each session. Students will also be asked to write a sonnet in the style of one of the sample poets and will have the opportunity to share it and discuss the experience of writing in that style. WEEK ONE Singing a Little Song: An Introduction with Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser WEEK TWO Love, Sacred & Profane: William Shakespeare, John Donne, and John Milton WEEK THREE From the Romantic Revival to the Modernist Movement: William Wordsworth, Christina Rossetti, Gerard Manly Hopkins, and Robert Frost WEEK FOUR Many Voices, Many Styles: Gwendolyn Brooks, Marilyn Nelson, and Bruce Smith WEEK FIVE Form Takes Flight: Natasha Trethewey, Wanda Coleman, and Rafael Campo WEEK SIX We Know The Rules: Brenda Shaughnessy, Terrance Hayes, and Tommye Blount WEEK SEVEN What Can’t The Sonnet Do? Camille T. Dungy, Oliver de la Paz, and Diane Seuss WEEK EIGHT Little Songs Of Our Own: A workshop discussion on sonnets from class participants. ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR A poet, editor, and occasional critic, MICHAEL MERCURIO lives and writes in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. His poems, interviews, and reviews have been published or are forthcoming in Palette Poetry, Thrush, The Common, Cream City Review, Sierra, and elsewhere. Michael founded and curates What The Universe Is: A (Virtual) Reading Series, where established and emerging poets read together monthly on Zoom.