Curriculum

AUTUMN 2024

CHILATST 77N: Ink and Resistance: Unraveling Latin American Narratives (COMPLIT 77N, ILAC 77N)

In El Centro Chicano y Latino at Stanford, there is a mural by Chicana artist Juana Alicia titled The Spiral Word: Codex Estanfor. The mural draws inspiration from the history and literature of multiethnic Latin America, from ancient texts like the Mayan Popol Vuh to contemporary Chicanx poetry. Through close examination of the mural and the texts it references, this course will delve into the shared cultural history of Latin America, the current diversity within the Latinx community in the United States, and future visions centered on ecological renewal. In this seminar-style course, we will analyze short texts by authors directly featured in the mural, including Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Jose Martí, Gabriela Mistral, and the Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico. Additionally, we will explore works by other authors who influenced Juana Alicia, such as Miguel de Cervantes, Jorge Luis Borges, and Junot Diaz. Central moments that have shaped the cultural history of the Americas, such as the Zapatista Movement in Mexico and the struggles of Black freedom fighters, will also be examined. By the course's conclusion, we will have explored foundational texts and events that define Latin America's cultural and literary history. Moreover, we will gain insight into how these foundational authors have been interpreted and reinterpreted within both Latinx and Latin American literary traditions.

Instructor: Pieck, R. 

 

COMPLIT 121: Poems, Poetry, Worlds

What is poetry? Why does it matter? How does it speak in many voices to questions of history, society, and personal experience? Readings will consider poetry as a cross-cultural way of thinking, through feeling, form, invention, sound, and language. The poetry of several cultures will be considered in comparative relation to that of the English-speaking world and in light of classic and more recent theories of poetry.

Instructors: Huber, M. (PI) ; Shemtov, V. (PI) ; Yu, K. (TA)

 

COMPLIT 243B: Arabic Poetry: Advanced Readings in Arabic Literature and Science II

Arabic poetry from the present day to the 500s. This class will be taught entirely in Arabic. Open to undergraduates with four years or more of Arabic.

Instructor: Key, A. 

 

COMPLIT 305: Prospects for a Comparative Poetics

"If in matters of aesthetics explanations fail, comparisons must never do so." In this course we will ask whether the quotation is accurate: is comparison the solution to the problem of describing poetry? Is describing poetry always a problem? Is comparison a distraction from the serious engagement of texts in times and places? Our starting point will be lyric poetry and its criticism. Is the lyric anything without genre? Without context? Are critical modes universal? Does context determine other framing concepts like secularism? We will read theoretical interventions, criticism, and poetry, we will talk about developing our own approaches, and we will experiment with them. Students working on genres other than poetry and areas of the world other than West Asia are encouraged to enroll (as are students working on poetry or Arabic, of course!) All readings will be available in English.

Instructor: Key, A. 

 

CSRE 150G: Race, Gender, and Performance from the Harlem Renaissance to Beyonce's Renaissance (ARTSINST 150G, CSRE 350G, FEMGEN 150G, LIFE 150G, TAPS 150G)

This course introduces students to Black Gender Studies through the art, work, and lives of performers. Students will engage works of theory, theater, film, poetry, music, and more - from the opera stage to the juke joint, from the church to the club, and from the Harlem Renaissance to Beyonce's Renaissance. Focusing on Queer, Trans, and Feminist performance in the United States in the 20th and 21st centuries, students will reflect on core issues including representation, identity, appropriation, justice, and authenticity. We will explore how performers strategically conformed to and rebelled against dominant racial and gender discourses and politics of their time, in order to imagine and work towards new futures. The course will incorporate film screenings, guest lecturers, and live performances, as is possible.

Instructor: Montgomery, W. 

 

ENGLISH 17N: Animal Poems

Animals have always appealed to the human imagination. This course provides basic a rubric for analyzing a variety of animal poems in order (1) to make you better readers of poetry and (2) to examine some of the most pressing philosophical questions that have been raised in the growing field of animal studies. The animals that concern us here are not allegorical-the serpent as evil, the fox as cunning, the dove as a figure for love. Rather, they are creatures that, in their stubborn animality, provoke the imagination of the poet.

Instructor: Gigante, D.

 

ENGLISH 160: Poetry and Poetics

Introduction to the reading of poetry, with emphasis on how the sense of poems is shaped through diction, imagery, and technical elements of verse.English majors must take this class for 5 units.

Instructor: Phelan, P. 

 

ENGLISH 167: Queer Poetics (FEMGEN 167A)

This course introduces work by twentieth century and contemporary LGBTQIA poets alongside foundational texts in queer theory and gender and sexuality studies. Reading poems within the theoretical frameworks of scholars like Munoz and Lauren Berlant, we will collectively explore how poetry is a genre uniquely suited to exploring issues of desire, utopianism, futurity, and liberation. Each week, students will have the opportunity to respond to assigned texts either creatively, through a poem, or critically, through a brief analytic piece of writing. In the latter half of the quarter, we will workshop our poems together. No previous coursework in poetry is necessary, though an openness toward experimenting in the form is essential.

Instructor: Cravens, M. 

 

ENGLISH 303: Blake and the Bible

Creation and exile, the divine and the human, angels and devils, the revolutions of human history, gender division and sexual identity, prophecy and apocalypse: these timeless themes occur in the sacred texts (mainly from the Hebrew canon of the Bible) and in the illuminated poetry of William Blake on which this seminar will focus. Emphasis will be given to form and genre proverbs, songs, lamentations, dream visions, prophecies, histories, fables - as well as to forging connections between texts and concepts.

Instructor: Gigante, D.

 

FEMGEN 192B: Poetry Is Not a Luxury (AFRICAAM 192B, ENGLISH 192B)

Poetry Is Not a Luxury * These places of possibility within ourselves are dark... The titles of this course are words thought and dreamed by Audre Lorde in her essay "Poetry Is Not a Luxury" (a version of which was first published in 1977). In this essay she writes: "For within living structures defined by profit, by linear power, by institutional dehumanization, our feelings were not meant to survive. Kept around as unavoidable adjuncts or pleasant pastimes, feelings were expected to kneel to thought as women were expected to kneel to men. But women have survived. As poets. And there are no new pains. We have felt them all already. We have hidden that fact in the same place where we have hidden our power. They surface in our dreams, and it is our dreams that point the way to freedom. Those dreams are made realizable through our poems that give us the strength and courage to see, to feel, to speak, and to dare." In this course we will consider the powers, resuscitations, and strategies found in the texts of a constellation of contemporary Black poets whose work emerges out of Black feminist thought and practices. My hope is that we will together listen toward the possibilities of this work, and through experiments in reading and writing, realize some of what these texts make it possible for us to think and feel and write and be.

 

FRENCH 269: Transfigurative Lyric: Baudelaire and Mallarmé

What happens when injustice runs rampant, when democracy fails, and when it's no longer possible to believe in ancient forms of faith? Can lyric poetry console? Can it inspire? Can it re-enchant a disenchanted world? Together we'll read some of the most powerful poetry from late-nineteenth-century France, including what may possibly be the greatest 100-word sonnet ever written. (Poems to be read in French; discussion to be held in English.) We'll think about what modernity is, how "modernist" forms were born, when writers turned away from nature and toward artifice, why poets started trying to outdo music, whether it's possible to fool oneself knowingly, who's left when a lyric poet strives for "impersonality," and which poems have the greatest chance of saving our lives. The class may even serve as our own little haven, twice a week, from the growing chaos around us.

Instructor: Landy, J. 

 

GERMAN 97: 10 Poems That Will Change Your Life

This course is for anyone who has ever been afraid of poetry, anyone who has ever thought that poems are too difficult to understand, a course for anyone who has fallen in love with poetry before, and for anyone who has used a poem to make a difference in someone's life. You will learn how to read, understand, and if you don't already like poetry. We will read poems from different centuries, different kinds of writers, and different media (paper, computer screens, and even DNA); they will be about loss and love and war and loyalty and bacteria. Some of them will be about you. You will develop interpretive skills that come with this range of poetic forms and structures and will learn how to think about what it means for something to be poetic, whether it is a poem, a Leonard Cohen song, a last minute field goal, or a toilet. Can the poems in this class really change your life? (What would that even mean? We'll discuss.) Maybe; maybe not. But they're certainly going to try. Taught in English

Instructors: Pao, L. (PI) ; Jia, L. (TA)

 

GERMAN 230: German Literature (800-1700) (GERMAN 330)

This course surveys different genres and of premodern German literature, including mysticism, Romance, heroic epic, lyric poetry, and the early novel. All texts available in English and German.

Instructor: Starkey, K. 

 

MUSIC 223A: Composing Electronic Sound Poetry

Poets, lyricists, rappers, composers, intermedia experimentalists, and others curious about combining words and sounds are invited to explore the exciting world of sound poetry. Students will make electronic works, musique concrète soundscapes, songs, or audio essays featuring their voice or that of others, with vocal sounds produced by singing, speaking, or speech synthesis, and employing digitally processed or collaged words. Our words can be original, collaboratively composed, quoted, or AI-generated. Students will complete several short creative etudes that build to a public concert featuring original multi-channel works, pieces with video, or live performances. No prerequisites.

Instructor: Applebaum, M. 

 

SLAVIC 129: Russian Versification: Poetry as System (SLAVIC 329)

The study of verse is foundational to literary theory and poetics. The practical goal of the course is to acquaint the students with specific features of Russian prosody and verse in its historical development and to survey such basic concepts as meter and rhythm, iamb and trochee, ternary meters and dolniks, accentual verse and free verse, rhyme and stanza in order to grasp their difference within Russian poetry from what we encounter in ancient Greek and Latin, as well as modern European literatures. The material of the course helps better understand the different stages in the history of Russian literature. We also address various approaches to poetry translation and the use of oriental verse forms (Persian, Japanese etc.) in Russian modern and modernist literature. Taught in English, readings in Russian. Prerequisite: Two years of Russian.

Instructor: Fleishman, L.

 

SLAVIC 278: Postmodernist Poetry in Eastern Europe: Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia

Although three Eastern European Slavic-speaking countries - Ukraine, Belarus and Russia - coexisted as "union republics" in the Soviet Union and participated in the formation of Soviet literature, after 1991 their literary course took different directions. In all three cultures postmodernist poetry developed intensively due to the powerful unofficial culture in the late Soviet period. In Ukraine and Belarus, postmodern poetry has become a space for critical reflection on nation-building processes. In Russia, this poetry has largely become a space of resistance to the neo-Soviet narratives of hegemony and expansion propagated by Putin's regime. Students will study the aesthetics of postmodernism and the Eastern European contribution to postmodernist poetics and discuss the political significance of poetry in contemporary Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian societies. All assignments in English translation. Knowledge of Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian is not required.

Instructor: Kukulin, I. 

 

WINTER 2025

ARTHIST 274: Wonder: The Event of Art and Literature (ARTHIST 474, COMPLIT 274, COMPLIT 374A, JEWISHST 274)

What falls below, or beyond, rational inquiry? How do we write about the awe we feel in front of certain works of art, in reading lines of poetry or philosophy, or watching a scene in a film without ruining the feeling that drove us to write in the first place? In this course, we will focus on a heterogeneous series of texts, artworks, and physical locations to discuss these questions. Potential topics include The Book of Exodus, the poetry of Friedrich Hölderlin and of Elizabeth Bishop, the location of Harriet Tubman's childhood, the poetry and drawings of Else Lasker-Schüler, the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, the art of James Turrell, and the films of Luchino Visconti.

Instructors: Eshel, A. (PI) ; Nemerov, A. (PI)

 

CLASSICS 12L: Intermediate Latin: Vergil

In this class you will practice with and reinforce the advanced vocabulary, forms, and syntax of classical Latin that you have previously acquired by closely reading selections from Books 1-6 of Vergil's Aeneid. While the emphasis of this course is on developing fluency in reading and analyzing the Latin texts, you will have opportunities to discuss and research the biographical, political, and literary issues raised by the readings. A primary focus of your inquiry will be the connection between art and propaganda as you examine how Vergil either contributes to or subverts the vision of Rome's imperial destiny and civilizing mission. In addition you will read the remainder of Books 1-6 in English and become familiar with the general outline of the first half of Vergil's epic. Your knowledge of the content and syntax of the readings will be assessed by several short quizzes. You will also sit for mid-quarter and end-quarter tests. Each of you will give a brief presentation on a topic relating to the life or poetry of Vergil, the historical background of his era or his influence on literature, art or music. Classics majors and minors must take course for letter grade. Classics majors and minors may repeat for degree credit with advance approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Instructor: Klopacz, J. 

 

CLASSICS 15N: Saints, Warriors, Queens, and Cows

The literature of medieval Ireland (600-1400 AD) is rich in tales about war and adventure, pagan gods, and otherworld voyages. The sagas of kings and queens sit side by side (sometimes in the same medieval manuscripts) with stories of holy men and women, and exquisite poetry in praise of nature or important persons. We will explore this largely unfamiliar but fascinating world through careful reading of the primary texts, backed up by some secondary works on history, myth, and society. In addition, the influence of early Irish literature on such later writers as W. B. Yeats and Flann O'Brien will be investigated. Readings include heroic stories of Finn and Cú Chulainn; the Cattle Raid of Cooley; the Voyage of Bran; satires; bardic praise-poems; monastic poems; and Sweeney Astray (Buile Shuibhne).

Instructor: Martin, R. 

 

CLASSICS 16N: Sappho: Erotic Poetess of Lesbos (FEMGEN 24N)

Preference to freshmen. Sappho's surviving fragments in English; traditions referring to or fantasizing about her disputed life. How her poetry and legend inspired women authors and male poets such as Swinburne, Baudelaire, and Pound. Paintings inspired by Sappho in ancient and modern times, and composers who put her poetry to music.

Instructor: Peponi, A.

 

CLASSICS 202L: Latin Core II: Age of Nero

In-depth reading of a major poet or a themed selection of poetry, e.g. Vergil, Horace or Ovid. Courses may be theme-based, e.g. Aeneas in Vergil and Ovid, or genre-based, combining representative selections of epic, elegy or satire from various authors. Goals will be to acquire detailed knowledge of selected literary works and genres, become familiar with key scholarly debates, and sharpen translation skills by focused reading in the same or similar styles. Students will be responsible for an agreed amount of Latin reading each week, with the intention that less proficient readers especially will ramp up over the course of the term towards increased fluency. Most class time should be devoted to Latin translation and stylistic analysis; short tests, examinations and written assignments will reflect these goals. Assessment will be in the form of two midterms plus a final examination, with a view to the Reading List examination.

Instructor: Krebs, C. 

 

CLASSICS 222: Song and Lyric in Greece and China: A Comparative Approach (CLASSICS 322, COMPLIT 222L, COMPLIT 322)

What can we learn by comparing the lyric poetry of Ancient Greece and Rome with the song lyrics (ci) of Song Dynasty China? Each song culture developed subtle lyric conventions to evoke erotic desire, atmosphere and emotion; each centered around performances at banquets and drinking parties; each is remembered for producing an iconic female poet. In this class, we will discuss these and other points of comparison in order to gain new perspectives on the unique attributes and affordances of each lyric mode.

Instructors: Carter, H. (PI) ; Peponi, A. (PI)

 

COMPLIT 184A: Poetry and Mysticism (COMPLIT 284A)

This course explores the interfaces of poetic and mystical speech across times and cultures. Topics include performance; subjectivity; spiritual/erotic love; linguistic fragmentation; the limits of language; and, finally, the question of apophasis as a subversive act. Sources range from the 10th to the 20th century and include Saint John of the Cross, the Judaic tradition, Hallaj, Rumi, Persianate Sufism, Meister Eckhart, Angelus Silesius, Paul Celan, Maurice Blanchot, Georges Bataille, Juan Goytisolo, and Andrei Tarkovsky. Taught in English.

Instructors: Huber, M. (PI)

 

COMPLIT 208: The Cosmopolitan Introvert: Modern Greek Poetry and its Itinerants

Overview of the last century of Greek poetry with emphasis on modernism. Approximately 20 modern Greek poets (starting with Cavafy and Nobel laureates Seferis and Elytis and moving to more modern writers) are read and compared to other major European and American writers. The themes of the cosmopolitan itinerant and of the introvert, often co-existing in the same poet, connect these idiosyncratic voices. The course uses translations and requires no knowledge of Greek but original texts can also be shared with interested students. Note: The course is open to both undergraduate and graduate students

Instructor: Ioannidis, J. 

 

COMPLIT 270: Poetess (Obsolete): Women Poets Take Back Time (SLAVIC 270)

Is there a tradition of women poets creating forms against the grain of their time? Close reading of women poets in conjunction with short readings in philosophy of time (Kant, Kierkegaard, Bergson, Heidegger). Syllabus includes Sappho, Dickinson, G Mistral, M Moore, E Bishop, Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Plath, N Sachs, G Brooks, Harjo, Cisneros, Szymborska, Students will introduce their favorites. Last weeks: living poet-performers, including our own Stanford talent. Poetry party/Symposium at end.

Instructor: Greenleaf, M.

 

ENGLISH 11A: Introduction to English II: From Milton to the Romantics

English majors must take class for 5 units. Major moments in English literary history, from John Milton's 'Paradise Lost' to John Keats's 'Hyperion'. The trajectory involves a variety of literary forms, including Augustan satire, the illuminated poetry of William Blake's handcrafted books, the historical novel invented by Sir Walter Scott, the society novel of Jane Austen, and William Wordsworth's epic of psychological and artistic development. Literary texts will be studied in the context of important cultural influences, among them civil war, religious dissent, revolution, commercialization, colonialism, and industrialization.

Instructor: Hoxby, B. 

 

ENGLISH 114B: Paradise Lost

Intensive reading of Milton's epic Paradise Lost together with selections from Milton's other poetry and from his prose.

Instructors: Jenkins, N. (PI) ; Oh, U. (PI)

 

ENGLISH 160: Poetry and Poetics

Introduction to the reading of poetry, with emphasis on how the sense of poems is shaped through diction, imagery, and technical elements of verse.English majors must take this class for 5 units.

Instructor: Jenkins, N. 

 

ENGLISH 301: Court Theater from Shakespeare to Mozart

We will study four plays written for James I (including Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, Macbeth, and The Tempest, and Massinger's The Roman Actor) in the broader context of European court theater from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Forms will include French ballet de cour, the Florentine intermedio, the Stuart court masques of Ben Jonson and Milton's country house masque, Comus, French classical tragedy (Corneille's Cinna), tragédie en musique (Rameau's Les Boreads), and Enlightenment opera (Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito). We will ask how these forms weigh the need to praise the ruling monarch with the imperative to counsel and critique him; how they balance the power of poetry, music, and spectacle; and how they, as forms, are transformed by the political developments that culminate in the American and French Revolutions.

Instructor: Hoxby, B.