Course: P4371, English 301: Poetry Writing, Mon.
4:10-6:40 PM, G38 Masterton.
Instructor: Dr.
Shelton Waldrep
Office: 1 Chamberlain Avenue
Hours: Wed.
3-5 PM and by appointment by contacting shelton.waldrep@alumni.duke.edu.
Description: This course is designed to acquaint the student with the basic
elements of poetry writing. We will
function as a workshop in which each student submits poems to the class as a
whole for comment and critique. Most of
these poems will be in the form of exercises that will focus on one or two
technical aspects needed to understand the writing of poetry. In addition to workshops, we will also spend
time reading and analyzing the work of several contemporary poets. Students are
encouraged to become familiar with other poets by reading widely in the
assigned anthology and in individual collections. (NB: A prerequisite for this
class is English 201.)
Texts:
Behn, Robin, and Chase Twichell,
eds. The Practice of Poetry: Writing
Exercises
from Poets who Teach. New
York: Harper Perennial, 1992.
Pound,
Ezra. ABC of Reading. New
York: New Directions, 1960.
Vendler, Helen, ed. Contemporary
North American Poetry.
Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1985.
Requirements and grading: (1) The
final course grade will be based primarily upon a poetry portfolio. A full
description of the requirements for the portfolio will be given out at a later
date, but in general, it will contain all of the poems you written for class
along with some revisions. (2) You are required to return your classmates’
poems to them with comments after their poem is workshopped in class. (3) You
are required to schedule and attend at least one conference. While I prefer
that these conferences take place during scheduled office hours, I will take
appointments for other days. (4) Participation in class is mandatory. Your final grade will be adjusted 1-3 points to
reflect the quality of your comments and your attendance.
Procedures: All
written work should be typed and double-spaced. Poems that are to be workshopped
will need to be
posted to a class listserv (see below)
on a day and time agreed upon. Once a poem is posted, you should print it out,
make comments on it, and bring it to class for discussion.
Your e-mail address will be
added to a listserv developed especially for this class. While this list can certainly be used for
comment and discussion, its main purpose will be to facilitate the exchange of
written work. You will post new poems
directly to the listserv by sending them to ENG301@USM.MAINE.EDU as an
attachment. If you do not have a
current e-mail address—or do not know how to create an attachment—you must
familiarize yourself with both before
the next class.
Please note
that beginning this semester USM will charge $.04 per page for all printing in
the computer labs. In order to print, you must have a USM One Card account
established, with money in it, or you will not be allowed to print. If you need
a list of labs, please see me.
Policies:
·
Late
poems will not normally be accepted. Rather than being posted, they should be
saved for inclusion in the portfolio.
·
Attendance
in class is expected. If you miss more than the equivalent of one week’s worth
of classes—for whatever reason—your final course grade will suffer. If you miss
more than one-third of the scheduled classes for this course, you will receive
a grade of “F” for the final course grade.
·
Please
do not be excessively tardy; do not eat in class; do not leave and enter the
room during class except during scheduled breaks.
Schedule:
September 9: Introduction to the course; information cards filled out;
syllabi distributed; discussion of ‘good’ vs. ‘bad’ poetry (handouts); read
“Auction: First Lines,” pp. 15-16, in the Behn/Twichell anthology, which
we will do as an in-class exercise.
16: Workshop on first poem: ‘No ideas but in things’; read Theodore Roethke: "Cuttings" and
“Cuttings (later)” in the Vendler anthology; read chapter one of ABC of Reading (pp. 17-27).
23: Workshop on first poem cont. (if necessary); read “Dramatic Monologue: Carving
the Voice, Carving the Mask,” 63-65, and “Estrangement and Reconciliation: The
Self Has It Out with the Self,” 78-79, in the Behn/Twichell anthology; read Dubie’s
“The Pennacesse Leper Colony for Women, Cape Cod: 1922” (photocopy); read John Berryman:"1 [Huffy Henry],"
"4 [Filling her compact & delicious body]," and "14 [Life,
friends, is boring]" in the Vendler anthology; read chapter two of Pound,
28-31.
30: Workshop on second poem: Voice.
November 7: Workshop on second poem cont. (if
necessary); read “The
Familiar,” 153-54, and “Writing Between the Lines,” 155-57 [see also sec. 1A of
“Writer’s Block: An Antidote,” 217] of the Behn/Twichell anthology; read Sylvia Plath: "The Colossus," “Morning
Song,” "Daddy," "Ariel," and "Words" in the
Vendler anthology; read chapter three of Pound, 32-35.
14: Autumn Break: no class.
21: Workshop on third poem: Imitating structure; read “Collaborative ‘Cut-Up,’”
123-24, in Behn/Twichell anthology; read Frank
O'Hara: “A Step Away from Them,” "The Day Lady Died," and “Why I Am
Not a Painter” in the Vendler anthology"; read chapter four of Pound,
36-49.
28: Workshop on fourth poem: Accidents and chance.
November 4: Workshop on fourth poem cont. (if
necessary); read
“Attempting a Villanelle,” 200-04, and “The Meter Reader,” 210-12, in the
Behn/Twichell anthology; read Robert
Lowell: “For the Union Dead,” “from Mexico,”
and "History" in the Vendler anthology; handout on meter and
form; read “Treatise on Metre,” 195-206, in Pound.
11: Workshop on fifth poem: Music, sound, and form.
18: Workshop on fifth poem cont. (if necessary); read “Shall We Dance?” 187-88,
and “Free-Verse Lineation,” 181-83, in the Behn/Twichell anthology; read James Wright: "Autumn Beings in Martins
Ferry, Ohio," and "Small Frogs Killed on the Highway" in the
Vendler anthology; read chapter five of Pound, 50-57.
25: Workshop on sixth poem: Vers libre.
December 2: Workshop on sixth poem cont. (if necessary);
read “In a Dark
Room: Photography and Revision,” 231-35, “Of Revision,” 249-50, and “Waiting
and Silence,” 257-59, in the Behn/Twichell anthology; read: Allen Ginsberg: America"; Adrienne Rich: "Diving into the
Wreck"; Anne Sexton: "With Mercy for the Greedy"; John Ashbery:
“At North Farm”; and Randall Jarrell: “Next Day” in the Vendler anthology; read
chapters six and eight of Pound, 58-61, 63-67.
9: Workshop on seventh poem: Revising.
Final exam day: portfolios due in my box by 4 PM.
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