Led by Harvard Professor Elisa New, the Poetry in America series chronicles the history of American poetry from the Puritans to the present day. Offered in semester-long modules, Poetry in America courses are now being offered through the Harvard Extension School and the Harvard Summer School for undergraduate- and graduate-level credit; there is also a non-credit enrollment option.
We offer these courses on a rotating basis. There is no prerequisite for enrollment, so feel free to take them in any order that works for you!
Explore our chronological sequence offerings:
Two of our Poetry in America courses were designed specifically with K-12 teachers in mind…but anyone age 15 and older is welcome to enroll! We see a good number of non-educators every semester, and we would encourage you to take our Poetry in America for Teachers courses if the subject matter is of interest to you:
If you are an educator, please see more information about our offerings for teachers here.
Fall course registration at the Harvard Extension School opens in early August, and Spring registration opens in November. Please see the course catalog listings at the bottom of this page to learn more, and to register. You can access the Harvard Extension School course catalog here. We hope to see you in class!
Summer course registration at the Harvard Summer School opens in early March. You can access the Harvard Summer School course catalog here. Listings for the upcoming summer term are published in January. Please join us this summer!
The Harvard Division of Continuing Education offers open-enrollment courses, degrees and certificates, and professional development programs.
Driven by the goals and values of its flagship project, Poetry in America, Verse Video Education develops video and accompanying curricular materials in the arts and humanities and beyond, creating a body of educational content capable of reaching a very broad community of learners: formal and informal, online and residential, young and old, American and international. By producing its own projects and creating thoughtfully-constructed and thought-provoking multimedia content for other organizations, Verse Video Education aims to enhance educational experiences, both within and outside of the classroom.
