Poems are not puzzles to solve but messages from actual people. But why would someone communicate with a poem? When we seeing poetry as communication, and ask who is talking, and who they expect to be listening, we are in a better position to ‘dissect’ or ‘close read’ a poem. Students in this demo will encounter relevant present-day poetry with these goals in mind.

About Dr. Jonathan Newman

Dr. Jonathan Newman is Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Missouri State University specializing in medieval and renaissance literature. His research is on medieval literary letter collections, and he joined Missouri State from Canada in 2016.