Can You Change the World (in Twelve Poems)?
FYSEMR 68J
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Can a poem change the world? And can you write that poem? And can you write twelve poems? And should you take this class? To write a poem is to be human. To write twelve is to be divine. Can you be divine? Let’s find out, this semester, by writing twelve poems. In this seminar we will write one original poem per week. There are about twelve weeks in a semester. Therefore, we will write twelve poems.
In this seminar we will also read a number of published poems that will help us in our quest to write twelve poems. In each class we will read published poems in order to figure out—voice, line, image, music, idea, structure, discovery, invention, etc—what makes a good poem. In each class we will also read and talk about each other’s work. You need not have written a poem before taking this seminar. You need not be good at writing poems before taking this class.
Class Notes
First-Year Seminars are available only to first-year students. You may apply to both Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 First-Year Seminars via the FYS lottery between July 6 and August 6, 2026 at 11:59PM-midnight.
You may apply to as many seminars each term as you would like, but we recommend you apply to at least six in fall and three in spring.
As part of your application, you must provide a brief statement on why you are interested in each seminar. You will be notified of lottery results for both fall and spring seminars at 5 pm on August 11. If you are unsuccessful in the lottery, you may still join any seminar with open seats. A list of open seminars and instructions on next steps will be available on the First-Year Seminar Program website August 11 at 12 Noon.
Not Available for Cross Registration
