Class: John Hart - Reading the Poets

Seven Wednesdays: Feb 1-Mar. 14
Everybody writes poetry, it sometimes seems. It’s the discerning readers that are scarce. “To have great poets,” Walt Whitman said, “there must be great audiences, too.” In this reading group we look at English-language poetry of many styles and periods, taking nobody’s word for it about what is “great.” What makes poetry tick? What makes a poem worth the effort of reading it? How do we enjoy and judge the seemingly obscure or difficult poem? Widely-published local poet and author John Hart co-edits the venerable all-poetry journal Blue Unicorn, now in its 34th year.