**This course will be held In-Person**
An exploration of poems, old and modern, using the season of fall as a starting point for the exploration of transitions, new beginnings, and endings. From the anonymous "O western wind" to Shakespeare's sonnets, from the odes of Keats and Shelley to Robert Frost, Pablo Neruda and Mary Oliver, poets have reveled in the contradictions of autumn: the fullness of the harvest and the inevitability of decline, the calm warmth of late summer and the wild storms of the equinox. These are poems in which autumn stands as a metaphor for the transformations that nudge or shake the natural and the human worlds in times of change. We will read from two to four poems a week--enough for some variety in each session and also for an in-depth consideration of the details of poetic form and meaning. Paintings, photographs, prose descriptions, music, and even some science will broaden our inquiry. Lecture with ample opportunity for discussion. No expertise with poetry is necessary to take and enjoy this course.
