Offered:

  • This course is offered in Term 1 (Feb-Apr) 2023 as an in-person course at the EarthDiverse Centre in Hamilton, New Zealand, live-streamed via Zoom if you live elsewhere, and as video recordings of the live sessions if you cannot attend the regularly scheduled class.

Date & Time:

  • This 2023 Term 1 course meets on Wednesdays from 7:00-8:30pm beginning on 22 February 2023 (New Zealand time). The course meets for 8 consecutive weekly sessions. The final session will be held on Wednesday 12 April 2023.

  • If you live outside of New Zealand and wish to Zoom in to our live class sessions, check the nearest local Time Zone equivalent below:

Time Zone equivalents:

for live-streaming Zoom Sessions from New Zealand. If your Time Zone doesn't suit our live-streamed class, you can also access our courses by watching the live-recorded sessions that are posted to the course webpage each week, usually the next day.

  • Honolulu, Hawai’i: begins Tue 21 Feb 2023, 8:00-9:30pm

  • US Pacific: begins Tue 21 Feb 2023, 10:00-11:30pm

  • US Central: begins Wed 22 Feb 2023, 12:00-1:30am

  • US Eastern: begins Wed 22 Feb 2023, 1:00-2:30am

  • London, UK: begins Wed 22 Feb 2023, 6:00-7:30am

  • New Delhi, India: begins Wed 22 Feb 2023, 11:30am-1:00pm

  • Bangkok, Thailand: begins Wed 22 Feb 2023, 1:00-2:30pm

  • Singapore & Shanghai: begins Wed 22 Feb 2023, 2:00-3:30pm

  • Tokyo, Japan: begins Wed 22 Feb 2023, 3:00-4:30pm

  • Sydney, Australia: begins Wed 22 Feb 2023, 5:00-6:30pm

Description:

  • ʻTo See a World in a Grain of Sand’: Ecospirituality in Poetry from Around the World

  • “Poetry is praise” (S. George). Throughout the ages and in different cultures, poets have celebrated and wondered about nature (creation) and the divine. Using English translations of some seminal works at the intersection of eco-poetics and spiritual poetry, this paper invites you to explore and discuss international poetry in a friendly, informal setting.

Course curriculum

    1. EarthDiverse Course Information

    2. EarthDiverse Zoom instructions

    1. The Biblical Heritage

    2. 20230222 LIT210 T1.1 Genesis PDF

    3. 20230222 T1.1 LIT210 Genesis video

    1. Chinese and Japanese Traditions

    2. 20230301 LIT210 T1.2a EcoSpirituality PDF

    3. 20230301 LIT210 T1.2b Chinese Japanese PDF

    4. Chinese & Japanese texts for class discussion

    5. 20230301 T1.2 LIT210 video

    1. Islamic Traditions

    2. ES Texts 3 Islamic, Sufi poetry

    3. 20230308 T1.3 Islamic Literature PDF

    4. 20230308 T1.3 LIT210 video

    1. Metaphysical Poets and Baroque Poetry

    2. 20230315 T 1.4 LIT 210 Shakespeare, Spenser, Donne PDF

    3. 20230315 T1.4 LIT210 video

    1. Romanticism and Classicism

    2. 20230322 T1.5 LIT210 Romanticism video

    3. 20230322 T1.5 LIT 210 Romanticism PDF

Additional course info:

  • Videos and PDF content of class presentations or whiteboard notes are uploaded weekly after each live session
  • Begins on Wed 22 Feb 2023
  • NZ time: Wednesdays 7:00 - 8:30pm

Meet our Instructor

German Instructor Dr Norman Franke , MA Hamburg, PhD Humboldt, Berlin

Dr Norman Franke is a New Zealand based scholar, poet and filmmaker. He has taught German as a second language for more than three decades to a wide range of learners, from refugees to academics. Norman has published widely about 18th-century literature as well as German-speaking exile literature (Albert Einstein, Else Lasker-Schüler, Karl Wolfskehl) and eco-poetics. Norman’s poetry has been broadcast on radio and published in anthologies in Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, the UK and the USA. Norman also teaches other courses for EarthDiverse, including our new course on Sacred Poetry, and courses in Art, Literature and Philosophy.

Location:

This class is a hybrid class with both in-person sessions in our classrooms or streamed live to anywhere (with an internet connection!) via Zoom.

All in-person classes are held at the EarthDiverse Centre located at 401 Anglesea Street, Hamilton Central, Hamilton (located just north of the Hamilton Central Bus Station) (entrance is located on the left side of the building, see map). Those looking for parking for our evening classes can park just in front of the building in any of the available car parks. Daytime parking can be found in our dedicated car parks, or free 2-hour on-street daytime parking can be found just in front on Anglesea Street.
Location

Distance Learning:

This course has distance-learning options for those unable to attend the live class sessions in Hamilton, New Zealand. Students have three options for attending our courses once they have registered:

  • Attend in-person classes in our Hamilton classrooms at the regularly scheduled day and time.

  • Attend our live on-line classroom sessions via Zoom at the regular scheduled day and time.

  • Watch the live-recorded class sessions at your leisure, at a time, day and place more suited to your schedule.

Distance-Learning options:

  • In addition to our in-person classes in Hamilton, our courses offer distance learning options for those unable to attend classes in-person. Live-streamed Hamilton classes are available via free Zoom software for those living outside the Waikato. Live-streaming allows you to participate fully in your own learning, ask questions of the instructor and participate fully in the same way as if you were in the physical classroom.

  • Those unable to attend the scheduled date and time of the actual class sessions, or those who need to miss a class or two due to previous engagements or unexpected illness, can watch any or all of the live-recorded video sessions on their computers, laptops, tablets or mobile devices and study at their own pace and in their own time.

  • Detailed instructions on how to access our distance learning components will be sent after completing your registration. There are no additional fees for this service. However, distance learners will need access to a desktop or laptop computer with a good quality web-camera (tablet devices and mobile phones can also access our live-streamed classes), a built-in microphone (most modern laptops have built-in microphones) or a headset with a microphone. You will also need to download and install the free Zoom software on your computer or device. Those accessing the video recordings will be able to do so with a simple web browser on any device.

Pricing options:

All prices in New Zealand dollars. Unwaged includes students, seniors and retirees.

Notes:

  • Those who cannot make the class meeting day and time via live Zoom sessions may consider accessing this course through the weekly recorded video sessions. Class videos are posted to the course web page usually within 1-2 days of each live class session and are available for your own personal learning on a day and time of your choosing.

Materials:

  • The course fee includes all teaching materials.

  • You will require a pen or pencil and a notebook for taking notes. Any notes that your instructor writes on the class whiteboard will also be posted as a digital PDF file on the course web page so that you can print these out at home and add them to your own notebook.

Prerequisites:

  • There are no prerequisites for this course.