Close Reading the poetry of
Anne Carson
Close Reading the Poetry of Anne Carson
Perhaps the hardest thing about losing a lover is
to watch the year repeat its days.
It is as if I could dip my hand down
into time and scoop up
blue and green lozenges of April heat
a year ago in another country.
I can feel that other day running underneath this one
like an old videotape—
From ‘The Glass Essay’ by Anne Carson
In October 2026 Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Born in Toronto, Canada, in 1950, Carson is a poet, essayist, translator, scholar of classical literature, visual artist and performer. Working across forms, Carson’s writing combines formal ambition, an often-hilarious tone and wells of deep feeling. Writing of Carson’s The Beauty of the Husband (2001), critic Daphne Merkin wrote: “I don’t think there has been a book since Robert Lowell’s Life Studies that has advanced the art of poetry quite as radically as Anne Carson is in the process of doing.”
In two, two-hour sessions, Dr Mariah Whelan will guide students through a series of close reading exercises to explore a selection of Carson’s diverse poems. Together we will observe, analyse and discuss the how the poems work as artistic objects, building connections with the poems while also focusing on issues of language, sound, form and imagery.
An ideal class for those wanting to work on their skills of close reading.
Sundays, 10 January and 17 January 2027
14.00-16.00 British Time (GMT)
15.00-19.00 Central European Time
Morning in the Americas
Late evening in Japan
Course fees
£92.00 full price
£86.00 CAMcard holders
£86.00 students on a low income
Link
Poetry Foundation on Anne Carson.
Poems and Essays
From Nox: Herodotos Tells Us
Wildly Constant, LRB
Please note: because these classes are mainly discussion, we do not record them.
To book, click on the image below.