This course seeks to illustrate variety of thematic and stylistic concerns of poetry written in the 20th century and to familiarize the sts with the major theoretical and critical movements charting a literary overview of modern poetry from the late 19th century into the early 21st century. Emphasis will be on outstanding poems of the period in their literary, social and philosophical contexts within a poetic practice. The course also seeks to encourage the sts to open up their perspectives to other disciplines with references to gender, class consciousness; ethnic, racial and national identities; myth and ritual; ideological preoccupations; poetic treatment of the city; the poets’ negotiation of minority cultures etc in their analysis of poetry.