BM404002 Seminar in American Poetry A

Hiroshima University Syllabus

Japanese

Academic Year 2026Year School/Graduate School School of Letters

Lecture Code BM404002 Subject Classification Specialized Education

Subject Name アメリカ詩文学演習 A

Subject Name
（Katakana）アメリカシブンガクエンシュウA

Subject Name in
English Seminar in American Poetry A

Instructor MATSUMOTO MAI

Instructor
(Katakana) マツモト　マイ

Campus Higashi-Hiroshima Semester/Term 2nd-Year,  Second Semester,  3Term

Days, Periods, and Classrooms (3T) Weds7-8,Fri7-8：LET B202

Lesson Style Seminar Lesson Style
(More Details) Face-to-face

Credits 2.0 Class Hours/Week 4 Language of Instruction B : Japanese／English

Course Level 3 : Undergraduate High-Intermediate

Course Area（Area） 23 : Arts and Humanities

Course Area（Discipline） 05 : Literature

Eligible Students

Keywords

Special Subject for Teacher Education 　 Special Subject 　

Class Status
within Educational
Program
(Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)
Criterion referenced
Evaluation
(Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students) British, American, and European Languages and Literatures, and Linguistics
（Abilities and Skills）
・Acquisition of the reading comprehension skills on British and American, German, and French literatures and languages, and other languages

Class Objectives
/Class Outline Course Description
This seminar offers a comprehensive historical and textual study of American poetry from the seventeenth century to the mid twentieth century, with a particular emphasis on religious poetics. Beginning with Puritan devotional verse and psalm translations, the course traces the transformation of spiritual sensibilities across Enlightenment deism, Romantic nature theology, Transcendentalist inner divinity, and the fractured spiritual landscapes of Modernism. Students will engage in close reading, theological contextualisation, and comparative analysis of major poets whose works articulate the evolving relationship between faith, doubt, community, nationhood, and the poetic imagination.
Course Aims
1. To provide students with a historically grounded understanding of American religious poetry.
2. To cultivate advanced skills in close reading, textual analysis, and theological interpretation.
3. To examine the interplay between poetic form and religious content across periods.
4. To situate American poets within broader intellectual, cultural, and theological movements.
5. To develop students’ ability to articulate complex arguments in seminar discussion and written work.

Class Schedule Week 1 — Overview of American Poetry (Colonial → Romantic → Transcendental → Modernist → Postwar) The Bay Psalm Book
Week 2 —Anne Bradstreet / Edward Taylor
Week 3 — Michael Wigglesworth
Week 4 — Philip Freneau / Joel Barlow
Week 5 — John Quincy Adams/ Richard Henry Danna Sr./ Emma Hart Willard
Week 6 —William Cullen Bryant / John Greenleaf Whittier / Oliver Wendell Holmes
Week 7 — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow /Edgar Allan Poe
Week 8 — Ralph Waldo Emerson / Henry David Thoreau/ Jones Very
Week 9 — Julia Ward Howe/ James Russel Lowell/ Herman Merville
Week 10 — Walt Whitman/ Emily Dickinson
Week 11 — Phillips Brooks/ Lizette Woodworth Reese/ Edwin Arlington Robinson
Week 12— Ezra Pound / T. S. Eliot
Week 13 — Robert Frost / Carl Sandburg /Wallace Stevens
Week 14 — William Calors Williams/ Marianne Moore/ e.e. cummings
Week 15  — Hart Crane/Langton Hughes/Elizabeth Bishop

Final Examination

Text/Reference
Books,etc. We will distribute the handout in class. It will also be uploaded to the Momiji bulletin board, so please download it individually.
References
Puritan & Colonial Context
• Miller, Perry. The New England Mind.
• Bercovitch, Sacvan. The Puritan Origins of the American Self.
Romanticism & Transcendentalism
• Buell, Lawrence. Emerson.
• Richardson, Robert. Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind.
19th-Century American Poetry
• Vendler, Helen. Dickinson: Selected Poems and Commentaries.
• Kaplan, Justin. Walt Whitman: A Life.
Modernism
• Jarrell, Randall. Poetry and the Age.
• Bloom, Harold. Wallace Stevens: The Poems of Our Climate.

PC or AV used in
Class,etc. Text, Handouts

(More Details)

Learning techniques to be incorporated Discussions

Suggestions on
Preparation and
Review When looking up vocabulary, please make use of the OED. Please check the Momiji bulletin board regularly.

Requirements

Grading Method The grading breakdown is as follows:
Contribution to Q&A and discussion: 20 ％
Final Examination: 80 ％

Practical Experience

Summary of Practical Experience and Class Contents based on it

Message

Other

Please fill in the class improvement questionnaire which is carried out on all classes.
Instructors will reflect on your feedback and utilize the information for improving their teaching.

Academic Year	2026Year	School/Graduate School	School of Letters
Lecture Code	BM404002	Subject Classification	Specialized Education
Subject Name	アメリカ詩文学演習 A
Subject Name （Katakana）	アメリカシブンガクエンシュウA
Subject Name in English	Seminar in American Poetry A
Instructor	MATSUMOTO MAI
Instructor (Katakana)	マツモト　マイ
Campus	Higashi-Hiroshima	Semester/Term	2nd-Year, Second Semester, 3Term
Days, Periods, and Classrooms	(3T) Weds7-8,Fri7-8：LET B202
Lesson Style	Seminar	Lesson Style (More Details)	Face-to-face

Credits	2.0	Class Hours/Week	4	Language of Instruction	B : Japanese／English
Course Level	3 : Undergraduate High-Intermediate
Course Area（Area）	23 : Arts and Humanities
Course Area（Discipline）	05 : Literature
Eligible Students
Keywords
Special Subject for Teacher Education		Special Subject
Class Status within Educational Program (Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)
Criterion referenced Evaluation (Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)	British, American, and European Languages and Literatures, and Linguistics （Abilities and Skills）・Acquisition of the reading comprehension skills on British and American, German, and French literatures and languages, and other languages
Class Objectives /Class Outline	Course Description This seminar offers a comprehensive historical and textual study of American poetry from the seventeenth century to the mid twentieth century, with a particular emphasis on religious poetics. Beginning with Puritan devotional verse and psalm translations, the course traces the transformation of spiritual sensibilities across Enlightenment deism, Romantic nature theology, Transcendentalist inner divinity, and the fractured spiritual landscapes of Modernism. Students will engage in close reading, theological contextualisation, and comparative analysis of major poets whose works articulate the evolving relationship between faith, doubt, community, nationhood, and the poetic imagination. Course Aims 1. To provide students with a historically grounded understanding of American religious poetry. 2. To cultivate advanced skills in close reading, textual analysis, and theological interpretation. 3. To examine the interplay between poetic form and religious content across periods. 4. To situate American poets within broader intellectual, cultural, and theological movements. 5. To develop students’ ability to articulate complex arguments in seminar discussion and written work.
Class Schedule	Week 1 — Overview of American Poetry (Colonial → Romantic → Transcendental → Modernist → Postwar) The Bay Psalm Book Week 2 —Anne Bradstreet / Edward Taylor Week 3 — Michael Wigglesworth Week 4 — Philip Freneau / Joel Barlow Week 5 — John Quincy Adams/ Richard Henry Danna Sr./ Emma Hart Willard Week 6 —William Cullen Bryant / John Greenleaf Whittier / Oliver Wendell Holmes Week 7 — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow /Edgar Allan Poe Week 8 — Ralph Waldo Emerson / Henry David Thoreau/ Jones Very Week 9 — Julia Ward Howe/ James Russel Lowell/ Herman Merville Week 10 — Walt Whitman/ Emily Dickinson Week 11 — Phillips Brooks/ Lizette Woodworth Reese/ Edwin Arlington Robinson Week 12— Ezra Pound / T. S. Eliot Week 13 — Robert Frost / Carl Sandburg /Wallace Stevens Week 14 — William Calors Williams/ Marianne Moore/ e.e. cummings Week 15 — Hart Crane/Langton Hughes/Elizabeth Bishop Final Examination
Text/Reference Books,etc.	We will distribute the handout in class. It will also be uploaded to the Momiji bulletin board, so please download it individually. References Puritan & Colonial Context • Miller, Perry. The New England Mind. • Bercovitch, Sacvan. The Puritan Origins of the American Self. Romanticism & Transcendentalism • Buell, Lawrence. Emerson. • Richardson, Robert. Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind. 19th-Century American Poetry • Vendler, Helen. Dickinson: Selected Poems and Commentaries. • Kaplan, Justin. Walt Whitman: A Life. Modernism • Jarrell, Randall. Poetry and the Age. • Bloom, Harold. Wallace Stevens: The Poems of Our Climate.
PC or AV used in Class,etc.	Text, Handouts
(More Details)
Learning techniques to be incorporated	Discussions
Suggestions on Preparation and Review	When looking up vocabulary, please make use of the OED. Please check the Momiji bulletin board regularly.
Requirements
Grading Method	The grading breakdown is as follows: Contribution to Q&A and discussion: 20 ％ Final Examination: 80 ％
Practical Experience
Summary of Practical Experience and Class Contents based on it
Message
Other
Please fill in the class improvement questionnaire which is carried out on all classes. Instructors will reflect on your feedback and utilize the information for improving their teaching.

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