Training in writing expository prose. Further instruction in expository writing in conjunction with reading literature. Satisfies the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement.

We might recall Lizzo’s iconic line in her 2019 single, “Truth Hurts”: “I got boy problems, that's the human in me/ Bling bling, then I solve 'em, that's the goddess in me” —a line that resonates astonishingly with the first lines of an untitled poem by the poet Jack Spicer written decades before: “Any fool can get into an ocean/ But it takes a Goddess/ To get out of one.” If “lyric” describes “a music that could no longer be heard, an idea of poetry characterized by a lost collective experience,” as Virginia Jackson suggests in the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, then we might frame the project of this class as one that seeks to understand this resonance. What is lyric, and how do we think of it? How can we describe a history of lyric (even one that can tie together Lizzo and Spicer)? And what might be at stake in doing so? As an R1B course, we will spend much of the summer session investigating these questions through daily writing exercises, as well as 2 longer essays. Our primary goal in this course is to develop our writing skills, toward the end of clearly and effectively articulating strong arguments incorporating research. Accordingly, our writing exercises will work through attention to a single topic—the lyric—which will aid us in our endeavors.

Requisites

• Previously passed an R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Previously passed an articulated R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Score a 4 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Literature and Composition. Score a 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Language and Composition. Score of 5, 6, or 7 on the International Baccalaureate Higher Level Examination in English.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills