Week 1 on Zoom
T Jan 26 Introductions
Th Jan 28 Sign up for a Conversation Starter before class today (links in Canvas)
Emerson, excerpts from “The Poet” (pdf) and “The American Scholar”; Folsom, “Rethinking the (Non)Convergence of D and W” (pdf)
Weeks 2 and 3: WW’s America: Centre of Equal Daughters, Equal Sons
T Feb 2 Start in Canvas module with “Meeting Walt Whitman and his America”
Folsom and Price, “Walt Whitman” biography; Folsom, Introduction to the Gallery of Images and the full gallery of WW images
Two early reviews of LoG: Griswold, “Review of LoG [1855]”; Fern, “LoG”
WW, “Song of the Open Road” (297-307), “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (307-313) and “America” (616) + listen to WW himself read it HERE.
Th Feb 4 WW, “’I celebrate myself…’” 1855 edition (27-99)
T Feb 9 WW, “Song of Myself” Deathbed Edition (188-247) and if you wish to, listen to it being read HERE.
Th Feb 11 “Song” continued
Response 1 due by midnight
Week 4: WW: The Body Electric
T Feb 16 Start in Canvas module with “WW, Sex, and Sexuality”
WW, the Calamus poems (268-287); Killingsworth, “Whitman and the Gay American Ethos” (pdf)
Th Feb 18 WW, from Children of Adam: “From Pent-Up Aching Rivers” and “I Sing the Body Electric” (248-258)
- Want to come to class? Do it.
- Want to work on your own? Add to your reading Murison, “Whitman, Women, and Privacy” (pdf) and post or comment on something related to today’s reading on the blog by Sunday, February 21, midnight. Include the statement “This is my February 18 work” in your post or comment.
Week 5: WW’s Civil War Years: My Comrade I Wrapt in His Blanket
T Feb 23 Start in Canvas module with “WW’s Civil War”
Murray, “Traveling with the Wounded: Walt Whitman and Washington’s Civil War Hospitals,” https://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/anc.00156.html
WW, Drum-Taps (416-458)
Th Feb 25 Drum-Taps continued; Parsons, “Desire, Forgetting, and the Future” (pdf)
WW, “Memories of President Lincoln” (459-468); from Speciman Days: “Down at the Front,” “After First Fredericksburg,” “Back to Washington,” “Fifty Hours,” “Hospital Scenes and Persons,” “Patent-Office Hospital,” “The White House by Moonlight” (736-742)
Your recitation of WW must be done no later than today
Response 2 due by midnight
Week 6: Exploring the Walt Whitman Archive
Reminder: a 3-credit course is meant to get about 9 hours a week, so I am trusting you to use your time wisely and fully. Make sure you’ve viewed my video introducing the archive first.
Reading: Folsom, “Whitman Making Books, Books Making Whitman”
Explore at least: In Whitman’s Hand and the various facsimile editions of Leaves of Grass
Whitman Archive Project due by midnight on Friday, March 5
Weeks 7 and 8: ED: This is My Letter to the World
T Mar 9 Start in Canvas Module with “Meeting Emily Dickinson and the Letter-Poem”
Emily Dickinson Museum, ED Biography and About ED’s Writings. Click through all of the links on each subpage until you’ve exhausted this information; Dickinson Electronic Archive: images of ED (and the comparative videos)
ED, Letters #s 13, 46, 65, 66, 110, 124, 133, 166, 185; 190, 193, 195, 207, 251, 278, 289, 291, 315, 338, 391, 408, 414, 496, 515, 525, 559, 560, 562, 667, 729, 779, 842, 873, 891, 899, 967, 968
Th Mar 11 Salska, “Dickinson’s Letters” (pdf or ebook through Simpson, The Emily Dickinson Handbook, 163-180); explore The Letter-Poem, a Dickinson Genre
ED, Letters #s 38, 56, 73, 77, 85, 93, 94, 173, 176, 208, 209, 222, 238, 664, 757, 868
T Mar 16 This is your Spring Break. Monitor, Mask, Distance, Clean, Relax.
Th Mar 18 ED, Letters #s 187, 233, 248, 260, 261, 265, 268, 271, 280, 290, 294, 305, 306, 314, 316, 319, 330, 330a, 342, 342a, 342b, 368, 413, 418, 440, 441, 444, 444a, 459, 459a, 573a, 573b, 573c, 641, 37a, 1042
Response 3 due by midnight
Weeks 9-11: ED: Much Madness is Divinest Sense
T Mar 23 Start in Canvas module with “Dickinson’s Divine Senses”
Smith, “Editorial History I” (pdf)
ED, Poems #s 5, 7, 14, 17, 21, 22, 26, 39, 42, 50, 62, 68, 77, 78, 80, 88, 91, 95, 105, 108, 112, 120, 121, 122, 124, 128, 134, 138, 143, 144, 165
Th Mar 25 Poems #s 185, 188, 189, 193, 194, 198, 202, 205, 225, 255, 260, 267, 268, 269, 276, 278, 279, 280, 285, 292, 307, 310, 312, 314, 316, 318, 320, 336, 337
T Mar 30 Explore Mutilations: What was Erased, Inked Over, and Cut Away
Poems #s 339, 340, 346, 347, 348, 353, 355, 358, 360, 367, 370, 372, 373, 380, 387, 393, 394, 403, 407, 409, 413, 419, 421, 423, 437, 442, 445, 446, 448, 457
Th Apr 1 Poems #s 465, 466, 473, 477, 479, 487, 493, 512, 519, 522, 528, 533, 546, 552, 557, 563, 579, 588, 591, 598, 615, 620, 633, 652, 656, 658, 660, 663, 675, 677, 690
- Want to come to class? Do it.
- Want to work on your own? Read all assigned poems for today and write a blog post that discusses TWO of the poems in rich comparison to each other by Sunday, April 4, midnight. Include the statement “This is my April 1 work” in your post.
T Apr 6 Poems #s 700, 704, 709, 711, 735, 737, 741, 764, 767, 800, 820, 821, 836, 857, 867, 890, 929, 930, 960, 983, 995, 1056, 1069, 1088, 1094, 1096, 1100, 1104, 1119, 1121, 1122
An introduction to ED’s variants
Th Apr 8 Poems #s 1207, 1225, 1263, 1268, 1273, 1300, 1313, 1322, 1325, 1345, 1352, 1353, 1356, 1381, 1432, 1436, 1452, 1489, 1496, 1507, 1577, 1608, 1612, 1621, 1647, 1658, 1691, 1696, 1743, 1761, 1763, 1773, 1779, 1788
Your recitation of ED must be done no later than today
Response 4 due by midnight
Week 12: Exploring the Emily Dickinson Archive (and bonus features from the Dickinson Electronic Archives)
Reminder: a 3-credit course is meant to get about 9 hours a week, so I am trusting you to use your time wisely and fully. Make sure you’ve viewed my video introducing the archive first.
Reading: Smith, “Dickinson’s Manuscripts” and excerpt from Cameron, “Dickinson’s Fascicles” (pdfs or ebook through Simpson, “The Manuscripts,” The Emily Dickinson Handbook, 111-143)
Explore: Dickinson, Cartoonist and Brainpickings Feature on ED’s Herbarium
Scriptural work in the Emily Dickinson Archive (remember to use F before your poem# to align with Franklin if you are searching)
Dickinson Archive Project due by midnight on Friday, April 16
Weeks 13 and 14: WW+ ED
T Apr 20 Start in Canvas Module with “WW and ED”
Gilbert, “The American Sexual Poetics of WW and ED” (pdf); Gerhardt, Introduction to A Place for Humility: Whitman, Dickinson, and the Natural World (pdf or ebook through Simpson)
Th Apr 22 Erkilla, “Radical Imaginaries: Crossing Over with W and D” (pdf)
T Apr 27 Conclusions. Whitman, “So Long!” (609-612); Dickinson, Letters #s 1034 and 1046
Th Apr 29 Kemp Symposium; class will not meet
Finals Week
Section 01, 9:25: Th May 6, 8:30-11:00
Section 02, 11:00: T May 4, 12:00-2:30