1. How are changing attitudes towards gender and/or sexuality in the early twentieth century reflected in the work of poets studied this term? Discuss with a primary focus on no more than two poets. (You may choose to compare one poet from the C20th with a poet from an earlier period.)

2. “Not ideas about the thing but the thing itself” (Wallace Stevens). Discuss the significance of things / thingliness / objectivity in the work of poets studied this term, with a primary focus on no more than two poets.

3. How do competing notions of “collectivity” inform the poems studied this term? (You may wish to consider terms such as: democracy, coterie, elitism). Discuss this with a primary focus on no more than two poets.

4. How does the concept of ‘newness’ shape American poetry written between 1900- 1939? (You may also choose to consider the role of history, tradition, and citation.) Discuss this with a principal focus on no more than two poets.

5. Discuss the role of religion, spirituality, and/or faith (pay attention to the distinctions between these terms) in the work of poets studied this term, with a primary focus on no more than two.

6. How are representations of nature and the city inflected by modernism? Compare the the work of two poets studied this term.

7. “Here is not merely a nation but a teeming nation of nations” (Walt Whitman, 1855 preface toLeaves of Grass). Discuss the importance of nation / nationhood / nationalism in in the work of poets studied this term, with a primary focus on no more than two.

8. How do African American poets studied this term address the specificity of African American experience? Discuss this with a principal focus on no more than two poets.

9. Discuss the relationship between the body and modernity in the work of poets studied this term, with a primary focus on no more than two.

10. “I think one should write vers libre only when one ‘must’, that is to say, only when the ‘thing’ builds up a rhythm more beautiful than that of set metres” (Ezra Pound, “A Few Don’ts”). Compare the use of free verse with the use of set metre in the work of poets studied this term, with a primary focus on no more than two.

You may also develop an essay question in consultation with me, or tweak any of the above questions. In both cases, you must obtain my approval by email (mae.losasso@warwick.ac.uk) no later than the 19th of November. These essays are due on Tuesday the 10th of December.

The word counts are: 2,500 words for non-finalists; 3,000 words for finalists; 2000 words for visiting / single term only students.