1
Poetry
English 205
Spring 2009
Section 001 MWF 2:00 – 2:50 pm, Candler 120
Section 003 MWF 12:50 – 1:40 pm, Callaway S101
Prof. Brian Croxall
Callaway N313
404-727-4264
Office Hours: MW 3-4:30 pm
Digital Office Hours: TTh 9-10 am or whenever I’m shown as available at http://bit.ly/OfficeHours
* I reserve the right to modify this syllabus.
Course Description
Poetry requires a commitment to close reading. We will practice this skill, required by all literary studies, throughout the semester in both discussion and written assignments. During the second half of the semester, we will explore the contexts surrounding poetry by investigating the resources in our library’s Special Collections. Each student will explore our library’s primary resources to better acquaint themselves with all that exists behind the words on the page. Finally, we will read portions of the work of two poets who work and write at Emory. Through structured writing and close analysis of poems composed during various historical periods and in different modes, we will explore the possibilities of poetic language and form.
Goals
By the end of the semester, successful students should be able to:
1. Identify and describe different aspects of poetry, including tone, speaker, form, imager, and symbol
2. Compare and contrast the work of different authors in terms of literary style, intellectual orientation, and historical and cultural perspective
3. Know how to conduct research in a literary archive
Texts
The required texts for this course are
· J. Paul Hunter, ed., The Norton Introduction to Poetry, 9th edition (ISBN: 978-0-393-92857-0)
· Natasha Trethewey, Native Guard (ISBN: 978-0618872657)
· Kevin Young, Jelly Roll (ISBN: 978-0375709890)
Finally, there are a number of texts that are only available from Reserves Direct or online. You are required to bring a hard copy of these texts to class with you on the day that we will discuss them. If you don’t have the text with you, you will not be able to participate effectively in the class and I will consider you absent.
Guidelines
This is a class based on collaborative discourse. As such, attending class regularly and being prepared to participate in discussions is a course requirement. Ask questions. Be curious. You’ll need to have read each poem more than once to be adequately prepared. You are more than welcome to have a different interpretation of a poem than a classmate or me; just be sure to share your perspective in a productive and supportive manner.
To do this, you must attend class regularly and complete assignments on time. You are allowed three unexcused absences, but if you must miss a class for any reason, you are responsible for obtaining the relevant notes and information from your classmates. If you have more than three unexcused absences, your final grade for the class will be lowered one grade level (if you have a B, it will become a B-). Absences because of a sporting event, a family vacation, or a hangover are not excused. Excused absences require documentation.
Papers are due at the beginning of class. If you will miss class the day a paper is due it is still your responsibility to turn in that paper before class. Late work will not be accepted, except at my discretion (with a significant grading penalty). Assignment deadlines are not flexible. All papers in this course must be typed in 12 point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with 1 inch margins and must be in MLA standard style format. Furthermore, the pages should be numbered in the upper right corner and must be stapled together.
Assignments
Poetry Wiki (10%)
Each Friday, we will focus our discussion on a single poem. In order to facilitate discussion, each one of you will annotate that poem on our course wiki. We will discuss the details of this assignment in class together. I will provide a handout describing how to edit the wiki (http://briancroxall.pbwiki.com) and what I mean by “annotate.”
Each student should contribute one annotation by 5 pm Thursday evening before the assigned Friday’s class. Your annotation should be a short paragraph (~5 sentences). I expect you to make a concrete addition to our understanding of the poem. Be creative in your choice of words/lines/phrases to annotate. You may also use the comments feature if you want to ‘piggy-back’ off of someone else’s annotation. Both of the sections of poetry that I'm teaching this semester will be annotating the same copy of the poem.
Free Writing (10%)
For the first half of the semester, each of you will free write. Like a reading journal, “free writing” assignments give you an opportunity to explore a poem or poems and particular aspects of them that resonate with you. They should be at least one page in length. Don’t think too hard before beginning to write. They are intended to give you space to react to the poetry you are reading and for me (and you) to discover what most interests you about it. This assignment will give you a chance to start thinking about your first paper. If you make an honest effort to complete the assignment, you will receive full credit.
Recitation and Homo-Linguistic Translation (10%)
This assignment will have two parts. First you will record yourself reading the poem and post these recordings to iTunes U where they will be available for the class to listen to. I will provide information about how to do this.
Then you will take that poem and translate it from “English to English” - substituting word for word, phrase for phrase, line for line, or ‘freely’ responding to each phrase or sentence in the poem.
Papers and Presentations (50%)
You will write two formal essays. The first (5 pages) will require formal analysis of a single poem or pair of poems. For the second, you will write a longer paper (8 pages) based on the research you do in MARBL. This paper will require you think more broadly and creatively about material we have read throughout the semester.
MARBL Project
One of the goals of this semester is to learn about the resources held in the Woodruff Library’s Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Library (MARBL). At the end of the semester, four groups will delve into some of the collection’s poetry resources. You will spend time exploring these materials and then report back to the class on your findings. One of the primary questions I would like you to keep in mind is how these materials advance, restrict, or otherwise change our experience of poetry.
The form of the presentation is up to your group. You will responsible for leading 30 minutes of class followed by a Q & A. Each person in the group must participate in some element of the presentation. You should all examine the collection and decide (1) what elements might be of interest to the class and (2) how best to present those materials to us: a handout, a poster, PowerPoint, etc. You will also be responsible for assigning the reading for the day of your presentation and, as always, contributing to the poem’s wiki entry.
Grades
Your final grade will be determined as follows:
Participation = 20%
Recitation and Translation = 10%
Wiki, = 10%
Free Writing = 10%
Paper 1 = 20%
MARBL Project = 30%
Office Hours: My office hours are designed for you. I reserve those times to meet with you individually to talk about the readings, the assignments, or other concerns about the course or the study of English literature at Emory. If you have a recurring conflict with these hours, I am glad to meet with you by appointment. Furthermore, you should note that I am available to chat online during my Digital Office Hours, and I am frequently available at hours not listed. If I’m listed as available for chatting at http://bit.ly/OfficeHours or on the wiki, feel free to strike up a conversation.
Plagiarism: For over half a century, academic integrity has been maintained on the Emory Campus through the student initiated and regulated Honor Code. Every student who applies to and is accepted by Emory College, as a condition of acceptance, agrees to abide by the provisions of the Honor Code so long as he or she remains a student at Emory College. By his or her continued attendance at Emory College, a student reaffirms his or her pledge to adhere to the provisions of the Honor Code. Plagiarism is a serious offense and will be treated as such by both the University and myself. While we will be using other people’s work in our research papers, there is a fundamental difference between drawing on those sources and documenting them appropriately, and representing them as your own. The Honor Code is also detailed at http://www.college.emory.edu/current/standards/honor_code.html.
Students with Disabilities: Any student who, because of a disability or any other circumstance, may require special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should letthe professor knowand should register with the Office of Disability Services:http://www.ods.emory.edu/.
Counseling Services: Free and confidential counseling services are available from the Emory Counseling Center (404-727-7450):http://studenthealth.emory.edu/cs/index.php.
Writing Center: The Writing Center is an excellent resource for writers of all skill levels. It offers assistance with all aspects of writing, including brainstorming, organization, thesis formation, style, wording, and revision. I strongly encourage each of you to schedule a meeting at the Writing Center at least once this semester. It is a good idea to secure appointments as far in advance as possible, especially towards the end of the semester, when the Writing Center is busiest. The Writing Center is located in the Callaway N212, and its website is http://writingcenter.emory.edu.
Schedule
Below is a schedule of assignments for the term. Please keep in mind that all reading assignments are subject to change. All page numbers refer to the editions/ISBNs that I have ordered. For some readings, you will download and print the text through the Reserves Direct system or from other websites.
Date / Reading / Assignment1/14 W / Introductions, Syllabus
1/16 F / Poetry: Reading, Responding, Writing (Norton, 1-26) / Free Writing
1/19 M / MLK Holiday
1/21 W / Chapter One: “Tone” (27-37)
Browning, “Porphyria’s Lover” (N, 529)
Williams, “This is Just to Say” (143) / Free Writing
1/23 F / Close Reading: Tennyson, “Ulysses” (576) / Wiki
1/26 M / Class Canceled
1/28 W / Chapter Two: “Speaker” (68-79)
Lorde, “Hanging Fire” (79-80)
Whitman, “[I celebrate myself, and sing myself” (82)
Plath, “Mirror” (86)
Duffy, “Mrs. Midas” (90)
1/30 F / Close Reading: Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (538) / Wiki
2/2 M / Chapter Three: “Situation and Setting” (93-105)
Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress” (106-7) / Free Writing
2/4 W / “Times” and “Places”
Shakespeare, “Full Many a glorious morning have I seen” (114)
Collins, “Morning” (116)
Plath, “Morning Song” (115)
Bogan, “Evening in the Sanitarium”(119-20)
Walcott, “Midsummer” (124)
Oliver, “Singapore” (126)
2/6 F / Close Reading: Wordsworth, “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” (587) / Wiki
2/9 M / Chapter Four “Language” (129-140)
Muldoon, “Errata” (141)
Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow” (142)
Dickinson, “[I Dwell in Possibility” (142) / Free Writing
Date / Reading / Assignment
2/11 W / “Versification” (Reserves Direct) / Recitation Due
2/13 F / Close Reading: Stevens, “Sunday Morning” (570) / Wiki
2/16 M / “Picturing” (153-54)
Shelley, “On Looking at Leonardo’s Medusa” (online)
Tennyson, “Mariana,” “The Lady of Shalott” (online)
Lowell, “Patterns” (online) / Homo-linguistic Translation Due
2/18 W / “Metaphor and Simile” (165-172)
Shakespeare, “[Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?]” (173)
Boland, “An Elegy for My Mother in Which She Scarcely Appears” (N, 179),
Dickinson, “[Wild Nights – Wild Nights!]” (182)
Dickinson, “[My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun—]” (298)
Pound, “In the Station of the Metro” (567)
2/20 F / “Symbol” (183-191)
Rich, “Diving into the Wreck” (193-5)
2/23 M / Peer editing / Draft Due
2/25 W / Chapter Five: “The Sounds of Poetry” (199-212)
Poe, “The Raven” (212-14)
Roethke, “The Waking” (217)
Duffy, “Mrs. Sisyphus” (218-19)
2/27 F / Poetry and Sound cont. / Paper 1 Due
3/2 M / Chapter Six: Internal Structure” (231-242)
Williams, “The Dance” (246-7)
Pinsky, “Poem with Lines in Any Order (Poem)” (253-4)
3/4 W / Library
3/6 F / Close Reading: Ashbery, “Paradoxes and Oxymorons” (526) / Wiki
3/9-3/13 / Spring Break
3/16 M / Chapter Seven: “External Form” (255-61)
Rossetti, “A Sonnet is a Moment’s Monument” (262)
Keats, “On the Sonnet” (261-2)
Rossetti, “In an Artist’s Studio” (267)
Brooks, “First Fight. Then Fiddle” (270)
Collins, “Sonnet” (273)
3/18 W / “Stanza Forms” (274-78)
Bishop, “One Art” (online)
3/20 F / Close Reading: Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind” (244-6) / Wiki
Date / Reading / Assignment
3/23 M / Natasha Trethewey, Native Guard (1-24)
3/25 W / Trethewey, Native Guard (25-46)
3/27 F / Closer Reading: Trethewey, “Elegy for the Native Guards” / Wiki
3/30 M / Chapter Nine: “Exploring Context” (303-309)
Owen, “Dulce et Decorum Est” (310-11)
Heaney, “Punishment” (313-4)
Frost, “The Gift Outright” (321)
Bishop, “Exchanging Hats” (321-22)