This week we are thinking about poetics and environmentalism, reading John Shoptaw’s essay ‘Why Ecopoetry?’ (2016). Many thanks to Miranda Jones for suggesting our text this week.Reading poems by John Ashbery, Walt Whitman, Juliana Spahr, Marianne Moore and others, Shoptaw considers what it means for a poem to be ecocentric.
Reading:
John Shoptaw, ‘Why Ecopoetry?’ (LINK)
Time & Place:
- 14:00-15:30, Wed 12 March 2019
- Shackleton Room (Arts 439)
“In this century, environmentalist poetry is suffused with the deniable but inescapable conditions of species extinction and global warming. Still, today’s green poets confront the familiar prejudice against didacticism.” (John Shoptaw, ‘Why Ecopoetry?’)
About the Doctoral Seminar:
This is an informal weekly reading group run for postgraduates within the Department of English Literature. We select a short text to read in advance, often a work of theory, then meet to discuss it. The seminar provides an opportunity to consider aspects of the reading that were thought-provoking or challenging for you, think about how it relates to texts you may have studied or plan to read, and share aspects of your own research and academic practice. It’s also a chance to get together, try out ideas, and meet fellow postgraduate researchers. There will be tea, coffee and biscuits and you are very welcome!
For access to readings, please email Dorothy Butchard (d.butchard@bham.ac.uk).