Six students and one faculty member plan to travel in July to France for the newest offering in Millsaps College’s study abroad programs. “Poetry, Painting and Paris” will focus on the poetry, visual arts and architecture of one of the world’s greatest cities.
For two weeks, the class, composed of four English majors and two art history majors, and lead by Dr. Greg Miller, professor of English, will tour museums and read poetry to draw connections between the purposes, structures, and functions of poems and works of art. They will also read poems written about works of art now in Paris or about the city itself.
The group plans to spend time at many museums and monuments including the d’Orsay, the Louvre, the Pompidou Center, the Picasso Museum, the Rodin Museum and in other smaller places such as the Marmottan (the museum of the Monet water lilies). At the Grand Palais, the students will view an exhibit of paintings, engravings and prints by the English visionary poet William Blake.
In recent years, Miller has spent extended periods of time as a writing fellow in France at both the Camargo Foundation in Champagne and the CAMAC Centre d’Art in Provence. During his residencies, Miller spent time with a variety of artists from around the world.
“I expect my students will be transformed by their explorations of this cosmopolitan capital, its people, and its art,” Miller said. “I spent my sophomore year of college in Paris and as a young man from rural Kentucky; I was forever transformed by my time in Paris. I sat in the great Renaissance amphitheaters of the university, listening to lectures on French politics, for example, by a minister from the early days of the Fifth Republic, studying with students from Germany, the United States, Spain, Britain and other parts of the world. French was our only common language, so we had to learn.”
This fall, Miller’s most recent book Watch will include many of the poems he wrote during his time in France—often inspired by works of art and cityscapes surrounding him.
“Working with visual artists has been liberating for me as a writer, so I thought I would share this connection, too, with my students. I am not alone as a poet in feeling a deep connection with the visual arts,” Miller said.
The group will be gone July 20-August 6. Each year, Millsaps College offers a variety of study abroad programs across the globe. Approximately 40 percent of Millsaps students take advantage of the many programs coordinated through the Office of International Education.
