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This course begins with the study of a selection of English and American poets from the early 20th century who are identified with literary modernism. When these poets found that the conventions of traditional English poetry failed to represent the social and political upheavals of modernity, including the impacts of industrialisation and the horrors of the First World War, they searched for ways to break with the past and make poetry new. Although the defining decade for modernist poetry was the1920s, modernism has influenced much of the poetry in English produced in the subsequent century. With this in mind, the remainder of the course studies the way later poetry has responded to modernist forms, techniques and preoccupations, with particular attention paid to recent poetry from Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific.
an ability to describe and appreciate the structure and texture of major 20th and 21st century poems as works of verbal art;some understanding of the contexts—economic, linguistic, political, cultural—in and around which poems arise;an understanding of poetic careers, within and across bodies of national literature;familiarity with poetic modes and forms (sonnet, elegy, epigram, tribute, etc) as they have changed over the last hundred years, and as they interact with other kinds of language use;a sense of literary history as it proceeds from movement to movement, generation to generation, so that poets and poems make sense in their own right but also as part of a larger international history.
This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attributes specified below:
Critically competent in a core academic discipline of their award
Students know and can critically evaluate and, where applicable, apply this knowledge to topics/issues within their majoring subject.
Employable, innovative and enterprising
Students will develop key skills and attributes sought by employers that can be used in a range of applications.
Biculturally competent and confident
Students will be aware of and understand the nature of biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand, and its relevance to their area of study and/or their degree.
Globally aware
Students will comprehend the influence of global conditions on their discipline and will be competent in engaging with global and multi-cultural contexts.
Any 30 points at 200 level from ENGL, orany 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
ENGL421; ENGL434
Students must attend one activity from each section.
Paul Millar
Most poems will be available on-line through via quality web resources. Links will be provided in course handouts or via LEARN to all prescribed poems. Additional print texts for supplementary reading will be available via the library.
Library portal
Domestic fee $1,896.00
International fee $8,525.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
For further information see Humanities .