Wild Nights: poetry and desire

What is the course about?

In this in-person literature course, we begin by looking at Venus and Adonis, one of the long erotic poems that Shakespeare dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, and at some of his many Sonnets addressed to a young man and dedicated to Mr W.H. We will explore the feelings that Shakespeare expresses, including the latest evidence about Mr W.H’s identity.

We will then look at episodes in two plays where comparable feelings appear: Titania’s and Oberon’s battle over the little Indian boy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (they are presented as sexually active beings who cannot have children themselves) and Falstaff’s mockery of heroism in Henry IV Part 1 through his relations with Hal and others.

What will we cover?

After Shakespeare we will look at Lord Byron as the first literary celebrity in the modern sense, famous for his lifestyle as much as his poems which sold in unprecedented numbers. We will consider how far some personal aspects of his life – his physical impairment, sexual profligacy, bisexuality, bulimia, political support for the Luddites and for the Greeks against the Turks - informed his sardonic, self-mocking poetry and gave rise to the Byronic hero, most famously Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre.

With Tennyson we will look chiefly at In Memoriam, the elegy for Arthur Hallam which he spent 20 years writing, and how this was understood by the Victorians. With Emily Dickinson, we will explore some of the poems and letters she wrote to Susan Gilbert, her sister-in-law and next-door neighbour, in an intense relationship that lasted 36 years.

With Arthur Rimbaud, we will look at how his experimentation with poetry from the age of 16 paralleled his sexual experimentation as he wandered France, Belgium and London, including his relationship with Paul Verlaine, before abandoning poetry at the age of 20. By contrast, we will explore the poems that Thomas Hardy wrote in his 70s during the courtship of the woman who became his second wife, but in the emotional devastation after the death of his first wife with whom he had scarcely spoken for many years.

Finally we will look at C P Cavafy, a Greek writing in the Egyptian city of Alexandria about his sense of Greece’s long history disappearing and his experience of being a gay man, one of the first modern poets to write about this; Marina Tsvetaeva whose relationships with men and women, reflected in her brilliant poetry, give a unique perspective on the Russian Revolution and the suffering it caused; and Carol Ann Duffy who has written very memorably about love and desire, sometimes from a directly lesbian perspective.

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

• Understand why and how some great poets have expressed intimate relationships in their work.
• Appreciate the social and emotional difficulties these poets faced and how they overcame them.
• Enjoy reading and discussing many fine poems.

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

You should be interested in exploring how intimate relationships are expressed, often in a new way, in the work of several major poets through reading and discussing representative selections of their work. No particular knowledge or skills are needed.

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

The sessions are run in a seminar style with all students invited to read poems if they wish and take part in discussions led by the tutor. You will receive the materials beforehand so you can read them and be ready to discuss them.

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

No. Electronic files and paper photocopies of the materials will be provided. A pen for making notes may be helpful.

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

Please see our range of poetry and other literature courses under History, Culture and Writing/Literature/Poetry on our website at www.citylit.ac.uk.