--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I teach a lecture course on American…" description: "\"I teach a lecture course on American poetry to as many as 150 students. For a lot of them, it's their only elective, so this is their one shot. They'll..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4d/robert-hass-3548_american_i-teach-a-lecture-course-on-american-poe_1258887.png" --- # I teach a lecture course on American poetry to as many as… ![“I teach a lecture course on American poetry to as many as 150 students. For a lot of them, it's their only elective, so this is their one shot. They'll take the Russian Novel or American Poetry, so I want to give them the high points, the inescapable poets.” quote by Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4d/robert-hass-3548_american_i-teach-a-lecture-course-on-american-poe_1258887.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4d/robert-hass-3548_american_i-teach-a-lecture-course-on-american-poe_1258887.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4d/robert-hass-3548_american_i-teach-a-lecture-course-on-american-poe_1258887.png) > “I teach a lecture course on American poetry to as many as 150 students. For a lot of them, it's their only elective, so this is their one shot. They'll take the Russian Novel or American Poetry, so I want to give them the high points, the inescapable poets.” [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Teach a large American poetry class, focusing on essential poets to give students a concise, impactful exposure. **In simple terms:** Teach key American poets to many students. Key Takeaway Highlight essential poets for broad exposure. Themes education poetry curriculum accessibility Mood thoughtful instructive Type educational inspirational When to use this quote - University courses - elective selection - literary appreciation Key Concepts Literature canon pedagogy Questions to Reflect On - Which poets are most essential? - How to engage large classes effectively? A Different Perspective Limited time may restrict depth of analysis. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [American](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american/) [American poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american-poetry/) [Course](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/course/) [Course American](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/course-american-1742646/) [Elective](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elective/) [Give](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/give/) [High](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/high/) [Lecture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lecture/) [Lecture Course](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lecture-course-3994576/) [Lot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lot/) [Many](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/many/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Only](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/only/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poetry Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry-want-2278540/) [Poets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poets/) [Points](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/points/) [Russian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/russian/) [Shot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shot/) [Students](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/students/) [Take](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/take/) [Teach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teach/) [Teach Lecture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teach-lecture-443248/) [Them](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/them/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) ## Related quotes > [I teach a lecture course on American poetry to as many as 150 students. For a lot of them, its their only elective, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/i-teach-a-lecture-course-on-american-poetry-to-as-many-as-150-2/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [The poem might come to you as you're preparing to teach a lecture, right? And when you say, "no" to that occasion, that poem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-geok-lin-lim/the-poem-might-come-to-you-as-you-re-preparing-to-teach-a-lecture/) [Shirley Geok-lin Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-geok-lin-lim/) > [Of course, the American education system is very inefficient in many ways compared to other countries in Europe or Japan, but it works in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-forbes-nash-jr/of-course-the-american-education-system-is-very-inefficient-in-many/) [John Forbes Nash, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-forbes-nash-jr/) > [“The poet dreams of the mountain Sometimes I grow weary of the days, with all their fits and starts. I want to climb some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/the-poet-dreams-of-the-mountain-sometimes-i-grow-weary-of-the-days/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [Screw poetry, it’s you I want, your taste, rain on you, mouth on your skin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/screw-poetry-it-s-you-i-want-your-taste-rain-on-you-mouth-on-your-skin/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“(W)hy is poetry wholly an elderly taste? When I was twenty I could not for the life of me read Shakespeare for pleasure; now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/w-hy-is-poetry-wholly-an-elderly-taste-when-i-was-twenty-i-could-not/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [I want to branch out. I want to write. I write poetry. I want to see my children grow up well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-lennox/i-want-to-branch-out-i-want-to-write-i-write-poetry-i-want-to-see-my/) [Annie Lennox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-lennox/) > [“Why do you always quote poetry at me when all I want is a straight answer?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mindy-mcginnis/why-do-you-always-quote-poetry-at-me-when-all-i-want-is-a-straight/) [Mindy McGinnis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mindy-mcginnis/) > [It's hard to have both parents involved in elective office at the same time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kerry-kennedy/it-s-hard-to-have-both-parents-involved-in-elective-office-at-the/) [Kerry Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kerry-kennedy/) > [I always knew that I would give back. My mother and my father both believe you have to work hard and give back. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-kean-jr/i-always-knew-that-i-would-give-back-my-mother-and-my-father-both/) [Thomas Kean, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-kean-jr/) > [I don't see myself in any way in elective office.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/condoleezza-rice/i-don-t-see-myself-in-any-way-in-elective-office/) [Condoleezza Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/condoleezza-rice/) > [I would have the studies elective. Scholarship is to be created not by compulsion, but by awakening a pure interest in knowledge. The wise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/i-would-have-the-studies-elective-scholarship-is-to-be-created-not-by/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [I was in elective politics for 24 years. I've made four national races, two for President, two for Vice President. I have found there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-gore/i-was-in-elective-politics-for-24-years-i-ve-made-four-national-races/) [Al Gore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-gore/) > [The unfortunate, yet truly exciting thing about your life, is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-stewart/the-unfortunate-yet-truly-exciting-thing-about-your-life-is-that/) [Jon Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-stewart/) > [This idea that once you get into politics... you are now signed up for lifelong duty being in elective office, makes a fundamental error…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-gonzalez/this-idea-that-once-you-get-into-politics-you-are-now-signed-up-for/) [Matt Gonzalez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-gonzalez/) ## More by Robert Hass > [It's the same with this idea of a literate public, and also of a democracy in which people have access to and really read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/it-s-the-same-with-this-idea-of-a-literate-public-and-also-of-a/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [All the new thinking is about loss. In this it resembles all the old thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/all-the-new-thinking-is-about-loss-in-this-it-resembles-all-the-old/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [Poetry, when it takes sides, when it proposes solutions, isn't any smarter than anybody else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/poetry-when-it-takes-sides-when-it-proposes-solutions-isn-t-any/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [When I was in college, I lost my scholarship one year. I had enough money for tuition, but not room and board. So I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/when-i-was-in-college-i-lost-my-scholarship-one-year-i-had-enough/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [As poet laureate, I was asked to be a spokesman for literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/as-poet-laureate-i-was-asked-to-be-a-spokesman-for-literature/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [After Pope, in the beginning of Romanticism, people developed the idea that imagination rather than reason was a special form of knowledge and its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/after-pope-in-the-beginning-of-romanticism-people-developed-the-idea/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [They are the kinds of things that make us a community: attachment to place, attachment to local arts traditions, the ability to read literature,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/they-are-the-kinds-of-things-that-make-us-a-community-attachment-to/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [I think that were I in the middle of an obsession to write about, say, sudden oak death in California or my grandchildren or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/i-think-that-were-i-in-the-middle-of-an-obsession-to-write-about-say/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [I suppose there's something to be said for the sheer reinforcement of our beliefs, but really I think poetry is more useful as disenchantment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/i-suppose-there-s-something-to-be-said-for-the-sheer-reinforcement-of/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [If you were making poetry out of convictions - trying to convince other people - you were in the territory of rhetoric, and that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/if-you-were-making-poetry-out-of-convictions-trying-to-convince-other/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [Milton was the first person who really experimented with putting politics into sonnets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/milton-was-the-first-person-who-really-experimented-with-putting/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [When I came into the job, funding for the humanities at the federal level was being drastically cut. This was the high tide of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/when-i-came-into-the-job-funding-for-the-humanities-at-the-federal/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [One may prefer spring and summer to autumn and winter, but preference is hardly to the point. The earth turns, and we live in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/one-may-prefer-spring-and-summer-to-autumn-and-winter-but-preference/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [“ A Faint Music by Robert Hass Maybe you need to write a poem about grace. When everything broken is broken, and everything dead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/a-faint-music-by-robert-hass-maybe-you-need-to-write-a-poem-about/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) > [“When everything broken is broken, and everything dead is dead, and the hero has looked into the mirror with complete contempt, and the heroine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/when-everything-broken-is-broken-and-everything-dead-is-dead-and-the/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) [Explore all 128 Robert Hass quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) ## More American quotes > [I wasn't attracted to American cinema, but I fell in love with Los Angeles the minute I arrived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-varda/i-wasn-t-attracted-to-american-cinema-but-i-fell-in-love-with-los/) [Agnes Varda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-varda/) > [William Maxwell's my favorite North American writer, I think. And an Irish writer who used to write for 'The New Yorker' called Maeve Brennan,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-munro/william-maxwell-s-my-favorite-north-american-writer-i-think-and-an/) [Alice Munro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-munro/) > [I have fallen in love with American names, the sharp names that never get fat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-vincent-benet/i-have-fallen-in-love-with-american-names-the-sharp-names-that-never/) [Stephen Vincent Benet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-vincent-benet/) > [I really like a lot of American country stuff, so my music has that influence, but I don't like to be set within a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jade-bird/i-really-like-a-lot-of-american-country-stuff-so-my-music-has-that/) [Jade Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jade-bird/) > [I certainly don't think that the heirs of the American Revolution were a particularly noble class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/i-certainly-don-t-think-that-the-heirs-of-the-american-revolution/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act in a tremendous investment to support millions of workers without a paycheck and behind on bills.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jake-auchincloss/congress-passed-the-american-rescue-plan-act-in-a-tremendous/) [Jake Auchincloss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jake-auchincloss/) > [Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy and employ almost half of the working population. Yet because of their size, they rarely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-lipinski/small-businesses-are-the-backbone-of-the-american-economy-and-employ/) [Dan Lipinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-lipinski/) > [Although I write in English, and despite the fact that I'm from America, I consider myself an Armenian writer. The words I use are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-saroyan/although-i-write-in-english-and-despite-the-fact-that-i-m-from/) [William Saroyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-saroyan/) > [When we first sold the Wallace and Gromit shorts to America, people suggested we get rid of the strange British accents and put clear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-park/when-we-first-sold-the-wallace-and-gromit-shorts-to-america-people/) [Nick Park](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-park/) > [Firefighters and rescue workers are American superheroes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kerry-kennedy/firefighters-and-rescue-workers-are-american-superheroes/) [Kerry Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kerry-kennedy/) > [France has not only built a bureaucratic barrier against American culture, it has constructed a notorious intellectual case against it as well. The French…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tyler-cowen/france-has-not-only-built-a-bureaucratic-barrier-against-american/) [Tyler Cowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tyler-cowen/) > [New York and San Francisco are distinctly different. San Francisco is driving the American media, not New York. You have young, microwaved millionaires and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-whitlock/new-york-and-san-francisco-are-distinctly-different-san-francisco-is/) [Jason Whitlock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-whitlock/) > [Well look, CIA is an agency that has to collect intelligence, do operations. We have to take risks and it's important that we take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-panetta/well-look-cia-is-an-agency-that-has-to-collect-intelligence-do/) [Leon Panetta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-panetta/) > [Food as a hobby used to be an elite pastime, and it has become something that is totally ordinary for people of every background.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goodyear/food-as-a-hobby-used-to-be-an-elite-pastime-and-it-has-become/) [Dana Goodyear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goodyear/) > [It's important for American soldiers to be culturally sensitive when deployed in foreign countries. But it's just as important for the U.S. never to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-bauer/it-s-important-for-american-soldiers-to-be-culturally-sensitive-when/) [Gary Bauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-bauer/) [Browse all 7,717 American quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/american/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I teach a lecture course on American poetry to as many as 150 students. For a lot of them, it's their only elective, so this is their one shot. They'll take the Russian Novel or American Poetry, so I want to give them the high points, the inescapable poets.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Robert Hass" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/i-teach-a-lecture-course-on-american-poetry-to-as-many-as-150/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "American" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/i-teach-a-lecture-course-on-american-poetry-to-as-many-as-150/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4d/robert-hass-3548_american_i-teach-a-lecture-course-on-american-poe_1258887.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4d/robert-hass-3548_american_i-teach-a-lecture-course-on-american-poe_1258887.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4d/robert-hass-3548_american_i-teach-a-lecture-course-on-american-poe_1258887.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I teach a lecture course on American poetry to as many as 150 students. 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