Cost and Registration Information

Early Registration Price (May 7 at 9 am** – May 24 at 4 pm): $195
Regular Registration Price (May 24 at 4 pm – first day of class): $214.5

** Registration opens online at 9 am. Phone registration will be accepted starting at 10 am.

Members, seniors, and students get a 10% discount.

This seminar has been cancelled.

Seminar Description

Quirky, incisive, and iconoclastic, Marianne Moore’s poetry has been recognized as an important contribution to 20th century American literature. This course will illuminate Moore’s poetic innovations by placing them within their broader cultural context. Discussions will focus on a number of related questions. For example, how do Moore’s wide-ranging diction, precise observations, and use of syllabics reflect the broader trends of Modernism? How did Moore’s unconventional life influence her rise to prominence? Though some background in reading and discussing literature will be helpful, participants do not need to have any prior familiarity with Moore’s life or work.

Four sessions. E – $195, L – $214.5

Alix Anne Shaw is a poet and visual artist. The author of three full-length collections of poetry, she has also published widely in literary journals. Her most recent book is Rough Ground: A Translation of Wittgenstein's Tractatus from Philosophy to Poetry.

Materials List

Required:

• Heather Cass White, Ed., Marianne Moore: New Collected Poems. Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2017. ISBN: 978-0374221041
• Linda Leavell, Holding on Upside Down: The Life and Work of Marianne Moore. Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2017. ISBN: 978-0374107291
• A course packet of additional material, compiled by the instructor and distributed during the first class, for which there will be a nominal fee due at that time. **Please note that you can obtain the electronic copy of the course packet for no additional cost.**

First Reading:

For the first class please read:

• “To a Snail,” “To the Peacock of France,” “The Past is Present,” “Poetry,” “When I Buy Pictures,” “The Fish” in Marianne Moore: New Collected Poems;
• Preface and chapters 3-7 (pp. 27-97) in Holding on Upside Down: The Life and Work of Marianne Moore;
• The file that will be sent upon registration, in the confirmation email.

This class is part of the Newberry’s Adult Education Seminars Program. Learn more about our registration procedures.