Modern American Poetry (Coursera)

Modern American Poetry (Coursera)

Twelve experienced faculty members from across the United States present their analyses of ground-breaking modern American poets in richly illustrated video lectures. The course highlights both major poets—from Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson through T.S. Eliot, H.D., Amy Lowell, Hart Crane, Langston Hughes, Muriel Rukeyser, and many others—and influential movements. The course mixes historical overview with close readings of individual poets and poems.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Most courses give only one instructor’s point of view. This one matches the diversity of US poetry with lectures by a score of talented faculty. They bring their special perspective to the material while also presenting a coherent view of more than fifty years of US poetry. Throughout the course the lectures are illustrated with vivid images of the events, people, and places mentioned in the poems themselves. Readings by both the poets themselves and experienced faculty highlight the texts. On screen displays of text and quotations make it easy to follow the material. This is a course that takes advantage of the medium to bring you sights and sounds that would be difficult to incorporate in classroom lectures.

Syllabus

WEEK 1: Orientation - Reassessing Modernism's Origins
WEEK 2: The Difference Women Made
WEEK 3: Poetry's Social Voice
WEEK 4: Modernism's Legacies

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Plagues, Witches, and War: The Worlds of Historical Fiction (Coursera) Coursera
University of Virginia

Plagues, Witches, and War: The Worlds of Historical Fiction (Coursera)

A unique and exciting introduction to the genre and craft of historical fiction, for curious students, aspiring authors--anyone with a passion for the past. Read classics of the genre, encounter bestselling writers of historical fiction, and discover your own historical archive while interacting with a global community of interested readers.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
The Cycle: Management of Successful Arts and Cultural Organizations (Coursera) Coursera
University of Maryland, College Park

The Cycle: Management of Successful Arts and Cultural Organizations (Coursera)

What makes a successful arts and cultural organization? Led by DeVos Institute Chairman Michael M. Kaiser and President Brett Egan, this course will introduce you to a management theory called the Cycle which supports thriving arts and cultural organizations. Learning from our work with managers from over 80 countries around the world, the DeVos Institute developed the Cycle as a simple, but powerful tool to assist managers in their effort to respond to an increasingly complex environment and propel their institutions to excellence.

Oct 5th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Music for Wellness (Coursera) Coursera
Berklee College of Music

Music for Wellness (Coursera)

You love music. You listen to music all the time. Maybe you sing, play an instrument, or compose music. You don’t need to have musical talent to use music to enhance your well being, and even your health. Learn simple techniques to enrich your mind, body, and spirit through music. The methods can be applied in your daily life, particularly when you are feeling down or stressed out.

Oct 12th 2026
4 Weeks
ART of the MOOC: Activism and Social Movements (Coursera) Coursera
Duke University,Creative Time

ART of the MOOC: Activism and Social Movements (Coursera)

This course is for activists, artists, and thinkers who wish to better understand and participate in social change. We will focus on the prolific and exciting overlap between socially engaged art and cultural practices generated by recent social movements around the world. Rather than assess the political efficacy of activities like mourning, listening, organizing, dancing, or partying, the lectures examine such cultural activities next to, and within, contemporary art practice.

Oct 12th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Richard Schechner's Introduction to Performance Studies (Coursera) Coursera
New York University

Richard Schechner's Introduction to Performance Studies (Coursera)

Performance Studies: An Introduction explores the wide world of performance--from theatre, dance, and music to ritual, play, political campaigns, social media, and the performances of everyday life. Performance studies also ranges across cultures--Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, the Americas. And it spans historical periods from the art of the paleolithic caves to YouTube and the avantgarde. This course is devised by Richard Schechner, one of the pioneers of performance studies, in dialogue with more than a dozen expert scholars and artists.

Sep 28th 2026
13-24 Weeks
The Beauty of Kunqu Opera (Coursera) Coursera
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

The Beauty of Kunqu Opera (Coursera)

This course will focus on the historical and cultural background, literary aesthetics, music, and performance of Kunqu, China’s classical opera. After viewing the lecture videos presented by scholars and renowned maestros in the field of Kunqu, students’ understanding and appreciation of Chinese performing arts, classical literature and traditional culture will be enhanced.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Introduction to Typography (Coursera) Coursera
California Institute of the Arts

Introduction to Typography (Coursera)

Typography is the art of manipulating the visual form of language to enrich and control its meaning. It’s an essential area of skill and knowledge for graphic designers. Typography predates modern graphic design by around 500 years; it is rich in rules, conventions, and esoteric terminology—but it remains an exciting space for invention and expression.

Sep 21st 2026
4 Weeks
Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop (Coursera) Coursera
California Institute of the Arts

Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop (Coursera)

Why just write poems when you can write better ones? This course is built on the notion that the most exciting writing begins after the first draft. It is specifically for folks who believe that writing poems just to express oneself is like using the Internet just for email. After all, poetry can change the way you and your readers think of the world and its inhabitants; it can break new ground for language; turn a blank sheet of paper into a teeming concert of voices and music.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Teaching the Violin and Viola: Creating a Healthy Foundation (Coursera) Coursera
Northwestern University

Teaching the Violin and Viola: Creating a Healthy Foundation (Coursera)

Join us as we explore the fundamental principles and early stages of teaching violin and viola through a series of engaging video lectures and lesson demonstrations, including: 1) Master classes with some of the world’s top string pedagogues, 2) Individual lesson demos of teaching violin/viola set up, left and right hand technique and pieces from the early violin/viola repertoire, 3) Group lesson demos of teaching music theory, ear training and fun activities that encourage good playing habits, and 4) A “field trip” to the violin shop, where we will outfit a new beginning student with a proper instrument and bow.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Story and Narrative Development for Video Games (Coursera) Coursera
California Institute of the Arts

Story and Narrative Development for Video Games (Coursera)

In this course, you will examine how storytelling acts as a vital mechanism for driving video gameplay forward. Looking at several historical and contemporary games, you will be asked to evaluate and interpret different story styles with the goal of identifying themes and procedures for your own game ideas. We'll examine traditional narrative story processes, such as three-act structure, and how they fit into game story flows and the strategic elements of gameplay. Ultimately, you will learn how to define character, setting, and structure to create a compelling game concept.

Sep 28th 2026
4 Weeks
Space is Everywhere (Coursera) Coursera
University of Colorado Boulder

Space is Everywhere (Coursera)

You are here! Welcome to Course 4 - Space is Everywhere and the last course of this specialization. You are on the final stretch of this journey to finding your Pathway to Space. The topics of Course 4 span four weeks and nine lessons with 36 learning objectives. This course contains some of my most favorite aha moments in the the entire specialization. I hope that you find them and that they impact you in a positive way. We will discuss how space is communicated through news, art, movies, books, music and more. Space is everywhere in our lives and therefore everyone can be involved in it. So keep up the pace. You can do this. Your reward awaits you, finding your pathway to space.

Sep 28th 2026
4 Weeks
The Modern and the Postmodern (Part 2) (Coursera) Coursera
Wesleyan University

The Modern and the Postmodern (Part 2) (Coursera)

This course examines how the idea of "the modern" develops at the end of the 18th century in European philosophy and literature, and how being modern (or progressive, or hip) became one of the crucial criteria for understanding and evaluating cultural change. Are we still in modernity, or have we moved beyond the modern to the postmodern?

Oct 5th 2026
5-12 Weeks