Course Catalogue

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This course explores the many ways in which poetry matters in the world: how it is read; how it is used; how it can be put to work in the messy and often contentious settings of social life. Drawing on frameworks from the sociology of literature, it considers how relationships with poetic writing and practice can be implicated in the formation - and contestation - of unequal social relations. 

Weekly, 2 hour on campus teaching throughout the semester - i.e. 11 x 2 hour sessions comprised of a lecture with an accompanying workshop.

As an optional course within the Sociology Honours programme the entry requirements are those governing entry to that level: i.e. in normal circumstances, completion of Sociology 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B, with average grades of 9 at Level 1 and 12 at Level 2.

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Critical reading project, 4,000 words (100%).

The aim of the course is to give students the opportunity to develop their critical understanding of the social and political significance of literature through consideration of poetry as a specific, substantive example. It will develop their capacity for critical appraisal of evidence and claims derived from theoretical, historical and empirical studies. Finally it will afford students the chance to engage with and critically assess the affordances of different forms of expressive and creative writing.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ describe and assess the sociological significance of poetic texts;

■ evaluate evidence provided in, and claims made on the basis of, studies of the writing, reading, production and sharing of poetry;

■ offer a critical appraisal of debates over the relationship between sociology and poetry.