Achsah Guibbory

She is so kind and such a character! I would take this class if you like poetry or need to fulfill your before 1800/colloquium reqs. She really gives you the freedom to write about anything on your paper which I really liked. Also I thought her feedback was useful.

The class was mostly made up of English majors and Milton's writing is extremely dense, but Guibbory really takes the time to break down all the material and reading which makes it pretty digestible. She leads the class as a large discussion and takes everyone's opinions into account, both when talking about Milton and deciding on assignments. High recommend trying out her class, Guibbory's enthusiasm about the course content rubs off on everyone.

Professor Guibbory is a true gem to the English department. Her class is much more like a true seminar than what I have experienced from other English seminars. She's very knowledgeable and intelligent but is incredibly humble about it. She's truly one of the warmest, most wonderful professor/person I have met during my time in college. She's very easy to talk to during office hours. She really does care about what you have to say too. Great to ask for advice on just about anything! The only regret I have about my time at Barnard is not taking a class with her sooner!

One of the best English professors I've had at Barnard. She's one of those people that realizes when a book is boring but tries to point out the interesting parts and make it relevant to us, instead of getting on a pedestal and demanding that we enjoy it because it's a classic of English literature. Always cares about how we're doing and will take the time to let us gripe for a few minutes about our stress, since it was a small seminar. She's a tough grader, but fair, and pushes us to really engage with what we're reading. She even brought us cookies on the last day! I'd definitely take another class with her.

I expected this class to be very unapproachable but I was surprised by how amazing professor Guibbory was! She made something like 17th century poetry super interesting and she made all feel welcome!! Amazing teacher with amazing passion for poetry!

I fell in love with this teacher on the first day of class, and slowly fell in love with her topic as she drew us into her impressively comprehensive understanding of Milton and his works. Not only is Professor Guibbory a phenomenal teacher for her enthusiasm and encouragement of class discussion, but she also gives her students the key to understanding some of the most difficult writings in English literature. Knowing Milton's poetry, polemical works and his epic Paradise Lost is invaluable to understanding the canonical works of the Western world -- Guibbory made this clear in the most delightful way. I loved writing for her and exploring the facets of Milton's characters and arguments.

Professor Guibbory is a sweet, warm lady and she has a lot of background with the texts. I enjoyed class, I think I would have enjoyed it more if there was less discussion, but it is a colloquium class so I can't complain. She always gave a background of the history of the readings before we started discussing and afterwards it was pretty much left up to the class where to go from there. There were response papers due each week-2-3 pages and a final paper at the end 8-10 pages. Overall an enjoyable course. I'm glad I took colloquium with her. I also find her to be really understanding.

I had the pleasure of taking a course with Professor Guibbory first as a junior, and then for my fall senior seminar. I was wary of her Milton class, as I am an Americanist, but her teaching of his prose and poetry was utterly compelling. It was not easy; this was the first English class in which I found myself truly needing to take notes. And I often met to read and discuss passages from "Paradise Lost" outside of class with a friend. Her senior seminar on Sin, Sex, and Spirituality is quite possibly the greatest course I took in college, and stretched and engaged my mind endlessly. In all, though, neither Milton nor her senior seminar were overly taxing in terms of readings and assignments. And I found that, rather than meandering, her lecturing was flexible enough to embrace the interests of her students while still getting us through the material.

Guibbory seems like a nice, warm, down-to-earth woman, but she reminds me more of my teachers in eighth grade than any instructor I've had in college. Classes are unstructured, meandering and governed by incredibly vague, general commentary she doesn't seem able to control very well. She has a habit of answering "exactly" or simply affirming every comment that is made, no matter how uninformed or plain stupid it is. It's easy to appreciate a nice professor - and she's great and understanding, especially in office hours - but every lecture felt like a high school class, and I ultimately learned very little from the course. Guibbory is, by all appearances, American born and bred, but she occasionally gives bizarre mispronunciations of obvious words, which, coupled with her well-meaning elementary school delivery, and Baby Boomer smoker's voice, make you feel like you're in a Midwestern ESL classroom. Even close readings tend to be oddly generalized and/or obvious. To give you a sense of the environment of this lecture: earnest, unironic sighs of "that's cute" or "I like it" delivered by what sound like Barnard first years appear roughly every ten minutes. It's functional as an easy way to knock down a pre-1800 requirement, but if you plan to specialize in the material or require any sense of intellectual rigor in your major-related classes, cross over to Columbia.

A book and reading response every week (though by the end she stopped assigning them), 5-6 page midterm paper, 8-10 page final paper.