TEMPLE COURSE ON NEW YORK SCHOOL

Stan McDonald will be teaching a fall course on the New York School. Here are the details:

At the same time Beat poets such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg were traveling the world and infusing poetry with apple pie and Eastern mysticism, the New York School was also redefining poetry through alignment with Abstract Expressionist painters such as Jackson Pollock and Grace Hartigan, incorporating high and low culture into their poems, and collaborating on poet's theatre. The original 1950's core--John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, James Schuyler, Kenneth Koch, and Barbara Guest--became one of the most influential groups of poets in the latter half of the twentieth century. Throughout this course, we will read their work and follow its impact during the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's with readings of poets such as Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka), Ted Berrigan, Alice Notley, and Bernadette Mayer. We will also tangentially touch on the St. Mark's Poetry Project, L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry, and the small press tradition. The New York School is a story of friendships and collaborations; it is also proof that poetry is possibility! This course fulfills a 2000-level requirement for English majors.