Students will explore the 500-year history of the sonnet in English, from its origins in Renaissance love poetry to the present. Limited in space and bound by rules, sonnets paradoxically free writers to scale the heights of invention and expression. Students will receive a thorough grounding in sonnet forms and structures, and will read many great sonnets from the sixteenth through twentieth centuries by poets such as Shakespeare and Gwendolyn Brooks. We will also spend at least a third of the course on sonnets written since 2000, by Terrance Hayes, Danez Smith, and others. Students will write analytical essays including a research paper, and will also have the opportunity to write and revise their own sonnets.

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 15

Prerequisites: None. Open to First-Years only.

Degree Requirements: WFY - First Year Writing

Typical Periods Offered: Fall

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall