An invaluable tool for constructing syllabi, the Guide offers extensive poem groupings under three major rubrics: Components suggests groupings that explore versification, form, figuration and rhetoric; Traditions and Counter-Traditions groups poems by context: influence and intertextuality, myth, gender, ethnicity, and nationality; Topics offers dozens of thematic clusters, including seasons, youth and age, home and family, work, and war. The Course Guide also includes useful suggestions for exercises and classroom discussion.