What does it mean to feel alone? An exploration through short story, essay, and poetry
In this course we’ll explore the theme of loneliness through three genres: Short story, essay, and poetry.
We’ll read and dig into:
The Yelllow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
‘The Loneliness One dare not sound’, poem by Emily Dickinson
‘On Solitude’ essay by Michel de Montaigne
Learn more about the readings
Michel de Montaigne’s essay On Solitude
‘On Solitude’ is one of Montaigne’s many small masterpieces. It’s an essay, typically short and, as always, disarmingly conversational. It discusses, without any hint of didacticism, the merits of being alone. Montaigne insists throughout his essays that he’s writing only to further his own understanding of life; that he’s totally unqualified, and we can ignore him if we like (a stance that, to me, invariably proves the most convincing). His writing is egoless, while also proving endlessly insightful and erudite. He’s a fantastic companion, upbeat, intelligent, funny, even when he’s discussing the merits of beating his servants (his conclusion is to try not to do so when angry, although, he admits, sometimes it can’t be helped). - Irish Times
Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Yellow Wallpaper details the deterioration of a woman's mental health while she is on a "rest cure" on a rented summer country estate with her family. Her obsession with the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom marks her descent into psychosis from her depression throughout the story. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's classic 1892 short story The Yellow Wallpaper has not only become an icon of Gothic literature but of feminist literature as well. The story centres on the theme of mental health and how women were treated at the time. The Yellow Wallpaper is a fascinating, and at times very unsettling, insight into just how powerless women were when it came to taking charge of their own health and treatment”.- Goodreads
'The Loneliness One dare not sound' by Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson (1830-86) wrote powerfully about loneliness and solitude, and perhaps nowhere more movingly than 'The Loneliness One dare not sound', a poem about a loneliness so profound that we can't even bring ourselves to confront it for fear of being overwhelmed. -Interesting Literature
About this six-session class series
This course is part of a six-session class series. Participants are welcome to enroll in the full class series or session-by-session. All Premise courses are conversation-style and facilitated.
The ideal: Participate in the full class series.
Students are invited to participate in each session in the class series. The enduring questions of the class will become deeper and more complex by participating in each session. Students come to know one another and connect more deeply through participation in the full series.
The cost of the full six-session series is $125 and includes the bonus session. Register here for the full series.
Can’t make the full series? Participate as you are able.
If you can’t participate in all sessions, we encourage you to attend any session they are able. We believe in low-barrier, flexible, and adaptive learning and community-making. Therefore, you are welcome whenever you can make it at Premise!
The pay-as-you-go session cost is $35/per session.