Gender, Desire and the Body in Poetry

What is the course about?

This in-college literature course explores the ways in which poetry may construct ideas of gender and the body at different points in time. We will be reading a range of verse from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries with attention to both female and male authors and will be examining how these poems speak to each other. Our readings will allow us to think about how poetry participates in historical questions and debates about gender and what it might mean to represent a male or female body at certain moments in history.

We will also be considering the historical and literary contexts in which these poems were first created and the cultural pressures to which they might be responding. We will be particularly attuned to the concept of poetic voice, separate from the historical author, and will be reading our texts as dynamic sites of complexity and conflict.

Biography for Linda Grant:
Linda’s research and writing encompass classical Greek and Latin, and Renaissance literature, especially poetry. She has published extensively on discourses of love, desire and the erotic; the history of the body; and classical reception, and poetry. She also has interests in women’s writing; in literature in translation and in contemporary autofiction. She has taught in both Classics and English departments at Birkbeck, Queen Mary, and Royal Holloway. She is currently writing a book entitled Shakespeare’s Bodies,and is researching a monograph on mythology and modernism focusing on female authors. She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

What will we cover?

Starting in the sixteenth century, we will explore how poetry by Thomas Wyatt and Mary, Queen of Scots express ideas of love, desire and the erotic from gendered perspectives. We will also be reading a sonnet by Shakespeare that playfully thinks about desire for an androgynous body.

Moving into the seventeenth century we will read two bawdy ‘impotence’ poems by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, and Aphra Behn. Each narrative explores with comic appeal an erotic encounter – but the failure of the masculine body can also be read more seriously within the context of Charles II’s Restoration court.

In the third week we will be reading Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market and thinking about issues of repression, subversion and female sexuality in Victorian culture.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

-Approach a range of verse and be a more confident reader of poetry with a sense of how the techniques of close reading allow you to analyse verse and deepen your intellectual and emotional engagement with individual poems.
- Gain insight into key literary periods (Renaissance, Restoration, Victorian) and some of their concerns around gender and the body.
-Consider the question of what cultural work poetry may be doing at different points in history.

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

Previous literary experience is not necessary for this course but if you have not studied poetry before then the ‘Demystifying Poetry’ course (code HLT354) course might be a helpful introduction, especially in offering practice in close reading. You will be given prompts and support by the tutor each week to give you ways into the poems under discussion.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

This course will be taught by a mix of tutor presentations/introductions and group work. We will be focusing on close readings of the selected poetry in small groups followed by full group discussions. You will be asked to read the poems for each week in advance. Secondary reading is not necessary, but the tutor can provide suggestions to students who want to follow up on any of the issues discussed.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

Handouts will be provided for all of the poetry we will be discussing so all you need to bring is a notebook and pen for your own notes.

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

The tutor will be teaching HLT354, Demystifying Poetry, a one day introductory course on 21 June and Journeys to the Underworld in Term One 2025. Look for other poetry courses on our website at www.citylit.ac.uk under History, Culture and Writing/Literature/Poetry.