JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

The Writing Seminars
Instructor Name:
Songmuang Greer / Course Title: “Words of Light: Poetry and Photography”
Instructor Contact Information (Campus Address, email, telephone):
3400 N. Charles Street
Gilman Hall 081
/ Course Number:AS.220.152
Distribution:H
Instructor Office Hours/Location: TBD / Credits: 3
Class Hours:T Th F 4 PM – 6:30 PM
Classroom: TBD / Dates: Term I (May 23-June24, 2016)
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course examines the role of lyric poetry in a media culture that has become obsessed with photographs. In a world where everyone with a cell phone is a photographer – and every literate person a writer –how do we create valuable work? We will pair genres of photography and lyric poetry in discussion – landscape photos and poems of place, for example – and view each through the other.Students will read a body of poetry and criticism (prose by Walter Benjamin, Susan Sontag, Penelope Pelizzon, Roland Barthes, et al.). In addition to bringing worthwhile comments on the readings to each class, students will submit one original poem and one original photo each week for credit.
COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students should obtain a good working knowledge and basic understanding of the following areas:
1 / The fundamentals of reading and writing poetry.
2 / A few basic worksof photography criticism.
3 / A few basic technical elements of photography.
4 / Personal enjoyment.
5 / A field trip TBD.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
TEXTBOOKS: / All readings will be provided in handouts.
SUPPLIES: / A device capable of taking 2MP digital photos. (If you shoot film, you must scan your negatives if you want to show them in class.)
COURSE WEBSITE
EVALUATION AND GRADING
Grades will be based on the following assessments:
ASSESSMENT TYPE / PERCENT OF FINAL GRADE
Assignments / 50% -- Poem assignments and revisions.
Exams / 30% -- Class participation; written reflections on prose readings.
Presentations / 20% -- Photo assignments.
ATTENDANCE POLICY
Because this class meets often over just five weeks, attendance is mandatory if you want to keep up with the material. More than one unexcused absence will result in final grade penalties of 5% per absence beyond the first.

JOHNS HOPKINS POLICIES AND SUPPORT SERVICES

This course is governed by the policies set forth in The Johns Hopkins University Undergraduate Student Handbook, which contains information on a wide variety of topics, such as support services, and policies relating to student rights and responsibilities. This course is governed by the policies set forth in this document.

Some JHU student support services you may find useful include:

SUPPORT SERVICE / LOCATION / PHONE NUMBER / WEBSITE
Library E-Reserves / /
Summer & Intersession Programs / 3505 N. Charles Street, Suite 101 / 410-516-4548

CLASSROOM ACCOMODATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

If you are a student with a documented disability who requires an academic adjustment, auxiliary aid or other similar accommodations, please contact The Office of Student Disability Services at ,

call 410-516-4720 or visit 385 Garland Hall.

STATEMENT OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Johns Hopkins University is a community committed to sharing values of diversity and inclusion in order to achieve and sustain excellence. We believe excellence is best promoted by being a diverse group of students, faculty and staff who are committed to creating a climate of mutual respect that is supportive of one another’s success.Through its curricula and clinical experiences, we purposefully support the University’s goal of diversity, and in particular, work toward an ultimate outcome of best serving the needs of students. Faculty and candidates are expected to demonstrate an understanding of diversity as it relates to planning, instruction, management, and assessment.

A WORD ON ETHICS

The strength of the university depends on academic and personal integrity. In this course, you must be honest and truthful. Ethical violations include cheating on exams, plagiarism, reuse of assignments, improper use of the Internet and electronic devices, unauthorized collaboration, alteration of graded assignments, forgery and falsification, lying, facilitating academic dishonesty, and unfair competition.

Report any violations you witness to the instructor.

COURSE SCHEDULE

Week / Dates / Topics / Assignments/Reading
1 / 24 May / The Decisive Moment: an Introduction / “A Short History of Photography” by Walter Benjamin
“The Decisive Moment” by Henri Cartier-Bresson
“Understanding a Photograph” by John Berger
Poetry Handout 1 – Love Lyrics and Confessions
1 / 26 May / Portraits and Love Songs / Discussion of poems and essays; discussion of portrait photography.
1 / 27 May / Workshop 1 / Discussion of student work.
2 / 31 May / How to Look at a Mountain and See a Landscape / “Light Speaking” by Penelope Pelizzon
“The Image-World” by Susan Sontag
Poetry Handout 2 – Poems of Place
2 / 2 June / Us Here, You There / Discussion of poems and essays; discussion of landscape photography.
2 / 3 June / Workshop 2 / Discussion of student work.
3 / 7 June / Witnessing with a Fixed Eye / “Occupied Images” by David Levi Strauss
“Afterimages: Abu Ghraib” by Shawn Michelle Smith
Poetry Handout 3 – Poems of Witness
3 / 9 June / The Long Bag You Drag Behind You / Discussion of poems and essays; discussion of journalistic/street photography.
3 / 10 June / Workshop 3 / Discussion of student work.
4 / 14 June / Putting the Mind to Light / Snapshot Photography, Ch. 3, “Ordinary Pictures” In the Modern Art Museum by Catherine Zuromskis
“Curiosity and Conjecture: Mathematics, Photography, and the Imagination” by David Travis
Poetry Handout 4 – Associative Poems
4 / 16 June / Leaps of Metaphor / Discussion of poems and essays; discussion of abstract andnon-pictorial photography.
Film:Henri Cartier-Bresson –The Impassioned Eye
4 / 17 June / Workshop 4 / Discussion of student work.
5 / 21 June / Pics or It Didn’t Happen: A Discussion of the Photography in Daily Life / Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes.
[Maybe: “Race and Representation in Camera Lucida” by Shawn Michelle Smith.]
“Ectoplasm: Photography in the Digital Age”by Geoffrey Batchen
“Dappled Things: Pinkhassov on Instagram” by Teju Cole
Poetry Handout 5 – Digital and Interactive Writing
5 / 23 June / Numbered by the Trillions: Information Overload / Discussion of poems and essays; discussion of the changing role of photography in the age of digital media.
5 / 24 June / Workshop 5 / Discussion of student work.