"Building, Breaking, Rebuilding": Poetry and the City

Since the beginning of large-scale urbanization in the USA, poetry has been a resource for addressing processes of urban transformation and reinvention. It has found unique ways to talk about growth and decline, to comment on conflicts over spaces and their use, to speak to the consequences of de-industrialization, and even to intervene in processes of planning and building the city.
In this class, we will discuss America’s urban poetry from well-established voices to emerging ones, and from the nineteenth century until today. Students will also have the opportunity to work on their own creative text – responding to our readings and/ or working with the Ruhr Region in front of our doors.

A reader with material will be made available at the start of the semester.