In this course we will examine a range of digital poems side-by-side earlier, bookbound poems to establish the extent to which digital poems are a continuation or a definitive break from what has come before. We will also look at the surface-level effects of these digital poems and try to establish a working vocabulary for critiquing these 21st century literary artifacts; further, we will look at how these poems have been constructed—what software has been used or hacked to create these word objects? What can we learn from studying these works at the level of the code? We will also explore the ways in which the language of digital poems mimics or becomes an object, sometimes complete with its own emergent behavior. Throughout the semester we will also have the opportunity to compare our findings with the authors’ intentions through videoconference meetings and/or online discussion forums. Further, since this course is as focused on the making and doing of digital poetry as much as on the critique and literary study of these poems, at the end of the semester we will have a “demo day” where you will exhibit for students and faculty the digital poems you will have created in response to the poems we will have studied in class.
(Source: Course syllabus)