ADMISSION INFORMATION FOR:
ENGLISH 494 Poetry Writing II (F/W 2009-2010)
INSTRUCTOR: Tom Wayman
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Course objectives are to increase the student’s ability to write and to read contemporary poetry at an intermediate level. The intent is to familiarize students in a practical way with strategies of language, structure and content used in contemporary poetry, with a focus on lyric and narrative approaches.
The emphasis in each class meeting will be on providing analysis, assessment and encouragement of student writing. The course is conducted on the seminar/workshop model, featuring discussion and evaluation of the student’s creative writing by his or her peers as well as by the instructor. Students will be expected to be actively writing and submitting their poems throughout the course, and should be prepared for intensive reading, too. Presentations, discussions, and written critiques concerning various aspects of a writer's craft and life will be part of the syllabus--issues to be explored include accessibility, locating poetic intensity, lyric thinking, negative space, and articulation of a personal aesthetic. Students must attend authors’ public readings outside of class time. A public reading by students will be held in Winter Session. The student will be evaluated on the basis of his or her creative work, additional critical assignments, and class participation. Evaluation will be based approximately 70 per cent on contractual creative and critical assignments, and 30 per cent on graded critical responses.
Texts: A good dictionary; course pack; MLA style guide; Diane Guichon's Birch Split Bark; Gerald Hill's 14 Tractors; Al Pudy's Rooms for Rent in the Outer Planets. Handouts will be provided from time to time.
PREREQUISITES:Full junior English course or equivalent and consent of the Department. The course is ideal preparation for ENGL 598 The Book-Length Manuscript (Poetry).
APPLICATION PROCEDURE: By Friday, August 14, 2009, prospective students
a) must fill out the Application Form on the reverse of, or following, this page, and b) must submit the Application Form along with a portfolio of 10 to 20 pages MAXIMUM of poetry (typed) for evaluation. Hand in the Application Form and your portfolio to the English Department main office (11th floor of Social Sciences building). Please be sure to mark the envelope containing this material "For English 494 Admission." SUBMIT COPIES ONLY (not originals) of your poems; your portfolio will not be returned. Your name must appear on each portfolio page.
Departmental prerequisites, the information on the Application Form, and the portfolio will be the basis on which consent to register for this course will be given. Try to demonstrate your range as a writer in your portfolio--your command of diction, lineation, stanza (if applicable), imagery (if applicable), freshness of vision--rather than submit poems all on one theme or in one style. By August 28, the English Department and the Registrar will have a list of students who have been accepted into this class. You may call the English Department thereafter to find out if you have been accepted into English 494, and register if your name appears on the list. You should, however, register earlier in your second-choice course to avoid disappointment if you do not gain admission to ENGL 494.
APPLICATION FORM
ENGLISH 494 Poetry Writing II 2009-210
Name: ______Student ID # ______
Address: ______
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Phone no.: ______Email address: ______
List previous post-secondary English courses you have completed for credit, the institutions at which you took them, and course instructors:
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List all previous post-secondary Creative Writing courses you have completed, indicating whether they were credit or non-credit, the institutions at which you took them, and course instructors:
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List the three books of contemporary poetry (anthologies, or composed by a single poet) you most recently read. Are any of these books compiled or written by Canadians? Albertans?
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How would you categorize your main reason(s) for wishing to increase your skills at writing poetry? ______
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Indicate if you are simultaneously applying for other University of Calgary writing courses, and, if so, which one(s):
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