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Curated by: Adam Walker - Close Reading Poetry (237 videos)
In September, Dr. Landrith will be teaching a poetry-based theory course titled “What Poetry Makes: Intro to Literary Theory Through the Twentieth-Century Lyric.” She will lead us in a study of literary theory in the context of the twentieth century lyric poem. From Dr. Landrith's syllabus: "Each week, we will read two essays representing one or two specific movements in twentieth century literary theory, focusing on the subset of lyric theory, and consider the claims these writers make about what poetry is and does (if anything) and why our writers make the claims about poetry that they do. And each week, putting on the critical lens(es) provided by our theorists, we will closely read Auden’s elegy “In Memory of W.B. Yeats,” together generating as many interpretations of this poem’s assessment of poetry as we can. The goal is collectively to develop our own theories about how poetry produces a convincing diversity of meaning, and why it matters (if it does) that it can do so." Versed Community has just inaugurated a guest professorship that will be held by a writer, critic, or professor whose work values the role of literary study in public life. We’re calling this appointment the Garner Visiting Professorship to honor the legacy of Dame Helen Gardner (1908–1986), whose work was a bridge between the academy and the public during the rapid professionalization of literary study. Central to this spirit of this professorship is Gardner’s vision of criticism as a moral and intellectual act of illumination. In her 1953 lecture “The Profession of a Critic,” delivered in the University of London, she wrote, “The torch rather than the sceptre would be my symbol for the critic. Elucidation, or illumination, is the critic’s primary task as I conceive it.” The holder of the Gardner Visiting Professorship (GVP) is a scholar-in-residence who brings to light complex texts to a wider audience.