Professor Bluemel’s Literature of the Sea class went to Long Branch Beach on Friday, April 21, to experience the sea they had been reading about all semester. They wandered the sands, watched the waves, withstood the cold April winds and grey skies, and concluded their class with readings of poetry by Elinor Wylie, Thomas Hardy, and Stevie Smith. This activity built on their semester-long studies of classic sea literature including Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” and Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” and more recent works including Charles Johnson’s “Middle Passage” and Akira Yoshimura’s “Shipwrecks.” Several students wrote their own literary works inspired by the sea as part of their final project in the course.
Literature of the Sea is a general education offering, open to students in all majors. This year’s class included, from left to right, Juan Rojas, Tatiana Romero, Alexandra Raczek, Jonathan Ringold, Melissa Abad, Daniel Gutin, Monica Azer, Kristina Good, Samirah Sartor (GTA), Dianelys Garcia, Gideon Quaye, Kelly Dender, and Christopher Kessler.
