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SYLLABUS for
THE NEW POEM: WRITING AND READING MODERN AND POSTMODERN POETRY
with Aram Saroyan
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Fall Semester 2008
INTRODUCTION
“Make it new!” Ezra Pound famously advised contemporary poets. From William Carlos Williams to e.e. cummings, Allen Ginsberg to Denise Levertov, Ted Berrigan to Alice Notley, with central focus on examples of students’ own work, this course will explore how poetry changes its shape and emphasis from decade to decade and generation to generation. The differences in the work of several 20th century literary generations will be addressed, beginning with Pound and T.S. Eliot in Paris and London after World War I to the poets of the 1930s led by W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Louis MacNeice, to the emergence of the generation of Robert Lowell, Randall Jarrell and John Berryman just before World War II. After the war, three important new strains in American poetry emerged: the Black Mountain School (Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Robert Creeley), the New York School (Frank O’Hara, Kenneth Koch, John Ashbery), and the Beat Generation (Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso). The 1960s, in turn, saw an exfoliation of these schools and a different and at times more playful approach took hold (Ted Berrigan, Ron Padgett, Joe Ceravolo). The course will conclude with a discussion of poets such as Alice Notley, Elaine Equi and Bill Zavatsky who have emerged in recent years.
COURSE TEXT
THE NEW POEM: A MODERN AND POSTMODERN POETRY READER. Edited by Aram Saroyan. Available at the USC Bookstore, the reader includes the following works, among others:
THE LOVE SONG OF ALFRED J. PRUFROCKT. S. ELLIOT
TRADITION AND THE INDIVIDUAL TALENT
THE RIVER MERCHANT’S WIFE: A LETTEREZRA POUND
Selections from THE ABC OF READING
“so much depends”W. C. WILLIAMS
“TO MY WASH STAND”LOUIS ZUKOFSKY
“Remember my little granite pail?”LORINE NEIDECKER
THE SUBWAYEDWIN DENBY
SKUNK HOURROBERT LOWELL
FOR THE UNION DEAD
THE LIBRARYCHARLES OLSON
SONGS OF MAXIMUS 1 & 2
PROJECTIVE VERSE
IN SOCIETYALLEN GINSBERG
AUNT ROSE
I KNOW A MANROBERT CREELEY
SOME ORTS FOR THE SPORTS
MARRIAGEGREGORY CORSO
THE DAY LADY DIEDFRANK O’HARA
PERSONISM: A MANIFESTO
THE RICK OF GREEN WOODEDWARD DORN
SUNDOWN: THE LAST OF THE WINEPAUL BLACKBURN
PEACETED BERRIGAN
DAY AND NIGHTARAM SAROYAN
WATCHING TVJOANNE KYGER
MYSTERIES OF SMALL HOUSESALICE NOTLEY
The reading assignment will be given weekly. Each week we’ll consider the assignment in detail and I'd like you to have your impressions of the material freshly in mind. In essence, we’re reading as writers rather than strictly for pleasure, and the more specific you can be in your response the better.
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
I will give regular writing assignments, but I encourage you to generate your own projects over the course of our weeks together. Near the end of our sessions I’ll ask you to write a profile of a favorite poet in which you review his/her career, and quote from work you find of particular interest.
I’ll give you notes on examples of your poetry that you choose to turn into me three times over the course of the semester: after the fourth, eighth and twelfth sessions.
COURSE SCHEDULE
August 27, 2008
Questionnaires and Introductions
Discussion of Syllabus
Telephone Tree
How a poem means—discussion.
ASSIGNMENT: Bring in a poem you particularly treasure.
September 3, 2008
Reading and discussion of treasured poem assignments and how each utilizes language, rhythm, meter, vowels and consonants.
Reading assignment: T.S. Eliot selections in reader.
Writing assignment: Write a short poem with attention to the way the words “embody what they indicate.” (Alfred North Whitehead)
September 10, 2008
Discussion of Eliot, poet and essayist, and his impact on American poetry, the New Criticism, the generation of Robert Lowell, Randall Jarrell, John Berryman et al.
Reading assignment: Ezra Pound.
Writing assignment: TBA.
September 17, 2008
Discussion of Ezra Pound and the Imagist and Objectivist poets: H.D. (Hilda Dootlittle), T. E. Hulme, W.C. Williams, Oppen, Zukofsky.
Reading assignment: Charles Olson, Robert Creeley and Robert Duncan. The Black Mountain School.
Collect poems to return next week with notes.
September 24, 2008
Discussionof the Black Mountain School: open field poetry, composition by phrase, the use of line breaks.
Reading aloud and discussion of papers turned in for notes.
Reading assignment: Read Frank O’Hara selections from The Reader.
Writing assignment: TBA.
October 1, 2008
Discussionof Reading, Frank O’Hara and the New York School. Contrast approach with Black Mountain School.
Discussion of writing assignment.
Reading assignment:
Writing assignment:
October 8, 2008
Further discussion of the New York School and Black Mountain School.
Reading aloud and discussion of assigned work.
Reading assignment: Beat Generation Poets.
Writing assignment: Reread your work and edit it as you decide what to turn in for notes next week.
October 15, 2008
Reading Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” aloud in class. Contrast with Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” the earlier poem with comparable impact.
Discussion of the editing process. How reading your own work repeatedly is a vital part of the literary process.
Reading assignment: Ted Berrigan
Collect papers to return next week with notes.
October 22, 2008
Discussion of Ted Berrigan, a poet who combined aspects of all three post-war strains in American poetry: the New York School, Black Mountain, and the Beat Generation. Reading aloud from Berrigan’s “The Sonnets.”
Reading aloud and discussion of papers turned in for notes.
No assignment.
October 29, 2008
Discussion of the possibility of publishing a class magazine. Why Doing It Yourself (DIY) makes sense in today’s literary culture. Discussion of blogs (pro and con).
Reading assignment: Padgett, Ceravolo, and others in the second generation of the New York School.
Writing assignment: TBA.
November 5, 2008
Possible titles for a class literary magazine.
Discussion of the Second Generation of the New York School.
Other movements: Concrete and/or Minimalist poetry.
Ian Hamilton Finlay, Louis Zukofsky, Aram Saroyan, etc.
The influence of painting and music in contemporary poetry.
Reading aloud and discussion of writing assignment.
Reading assignment: TBA.
Writing assignment: Write a profile of a favorite poet.
November 12, 2008
Discussion of more recent poets and current “poetry scene.”
Bill Zavatsky, Elaine Equi, Alice Notley.
How Ginsberg’s “candor” is illustrated in the work of these poets.
Reading aloud and discussion of writing assignment.
Further look at possible titles for class magazine.
Collect papers to return with notes next week.
November 19, 2008
Choose title for class magazine, settle details of production.
Discussion of poet profiles.
Reading aloud and discussion of pieces handed in for notes.
November 26, 2008
Discussion of poet profiles.
Further reading aloud and discussion of pieces handed in for notes.
Finalize details of class magazine. Plan for a publication party at our last meeting.
No assignment.
December 3, 2008
Celebration of the class magazine, perhaps at The Getty Center.
Goodbyes.
YOUR GRADE
Your grade will be based on the writing you do for this workshop and on your contribution to the in-class study that we do together.
The following criteria will be used:
Participation15%
Homework35%
Submitting work for class critiques 25%
Critiquing other’s work25%
Grading Guidelines
A final grade in this class is based on the participant's total performance throughout the semester, not on any single individual work.
In order for the class discussion of new work to be a helpful resource for each writer, I ask you to keep in mind the following general guidelines:
Listen carefully as work is read aloud by the author. Unless writing notes distracts you from listening, make notes for your comments afterwards. The writer may direct questions to people or to the group as a whole. He/she can initiate topics for discussion. Writers do need to know what works and what is strong, as well as what needs improvement. Specifics help. Criticism always refers to the work and never the person.
Please double-space any prose assignment.
I will excuse a necessary absence, but please try to be in touch before the class in question. Otherwise, I expect you to be here promptly for class and not depart until the class is dismissed.
A final grade will be based on your total performance throughout the semester, not on any single individual work. What’s important to me is that you’re participating in this course with the fullest attention and effort. If I sense that you have less than a full commitment to what we’re doing, it will affect your grade. At the same time, I know that each of you has your own rhythm and approach and I'm not expecting anything other than your best effort and attention individually, working in the way you personally are learning to work. I’ve read that a good writing instructor helps the student to write in his/her own way, while a bad one encourages the student to write in the style of the instructor. That's something I keep in mind.
EATING IN CLASS
In general, try to confine your eating to before or after the class and/or during the break (which is usually around 8:30 p.m.) If you must eat in class, try to make it quiet food and/or food without crinkly wrappers, noisy tops et al. which I find distracting. Thank you.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
I encourage you to seek one another out since this is a unique and temporary society you have here as fellow writers.
EVALUATION DAY
Your opportunity to write your evaluation of the course and instructor generally occurs during our last session together.
LAST WORD
I look forward to working with you. Tell me any concerns or interests you have which you would like to have discussed, clarified or otherwise elaborated. I want your ongoing feedback. This course is what we make it together.
Statement for Students with Disabilities
Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me (or to TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.
Statement on Academic Integrity
USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A: Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found at: