Course Overview
This course will provide an introduction to the writings of William Butler Yeats, an Irish poet and dramatists who is widely recognized as among the most important and influential artists of the twentieth century. The course will begin with an online component, in which students will closely analyze selections from his poetry, will explore the major themes and issues that emerge in his writings, and will become familiar with late nineteenth and early twentieth century Irish history, particularly the movements and events (the rise of Irish nationalism, the Easter Rising, the Irish Civil War, etc.) that deeply influenced Yeats’s work.
The course itself will take place in Sligo, Ireland, where students will attend the Yeats Summer School. In addition to discovering the Irish landscape that provided the inspiration for much of Yeats’s art, students will attend lectures delivered by some of the world’s foremost Yeats scholars, and will participate in a one-week seminar (2 hours per day). The lectures will provide an overview of the Yeats canon, moving from his early writings to his later works, and will address those themes and issues that currently occupy a central position in Yeats scholarship. The seminars will cover a range of specific topics. Taught by experts from universities throughout the world and comprised of no more than fifteen students each, the seminars will provide students with the opportunity to explore, in depth, a topic of their choosing.
Learning Outcomes
Students who complete this course will:
- Demonstrate a thorough understanding of Yeats’s major works.
- Demonstrate an understanding of Yeats’s works in relation to Irish history and developments in literary modernism.
- Demonstrate an ability to analyze Yeats’s works in depth.
Texts
The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats. Richard Finneran, ed. New York: Macmillan, 1993.
Holdeman, David. The Cambridge Introduction to W.B. Yeats. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006.
Grading Breakdown
Pre-Departure Work [20%]
Virtual Scrapbook [30%]
Self-Reflective Essay [10%]
Analytical Essay / Creative Piece [20%]
Participation [20%]