(Troubling) Image and the Poetic Statement [Roger Reeves]

In this class, we will examine and explore the (troubling) image – “troubling” in the African-American sense (i.e., as a means of radical and transformational change or disruption) as well as “troubling” to mean disturbance. One of the objectives of the course is to query, challenge, define, and redefine what exactly poetic image is. Through close-reading of poems by a diverse array of poets such as Brigit Pegeen Kelly and Lucille Clifton, we will interrogate the historical, personal, and social image that might trouble the reader. We’ll also trouble the stable notion of the image, coming to understand the image as both the stable and not-so stable ground of the lyric meditation.