In 1979, Michael Ondaatje announced that "the most interesting work being done by poets today can be found within the structure of the long poem." More than thirty years later, Ondaatje's statement still applies. This course is designed to offer a survey of contemporary Canadian long poems. Using sections of Smaro Kamboureli's study On the Edge of Genre as a framework for class discussion, we will explore such issues as: the long poem's relationship with genre and postmodernism; formal structures and innovations in the long poem; the tension between lyric and narrative in the long poem; and identity politics within the long poem. Poets studied include Dionne Brand, Anne Carson, George Elliott Clarke, Robert Kroetsch, Daphne Marlatt, Don McKay, Erin Moure, bpNichol, Michael Ondaatje, Lisa Robertson, and Phyllis Webb.
Prerequisite: B+ average in ENGL; open to ENGL Honours students. |
