Note: Readings are due by class time on the date specified; in addition to the assigned readings, you are also required to read the course blog before each class period (posts should be up by 8AM the morning of class
Jan 12 Introduction
Ezra Pound: "In a Station of the Metro"
Jan 14
Introduction to Unit 1
Rhetorical Figure of the Week: zeugma / syllepsis
Readings: Vendler Chapter 1
Jan 16
Readings: Vendler Chapter 2
Jan 19
HOLIDAY
Jan 21
Readings: Vendler Chapter 3
Blog posts: Jon Achorn, Quinn Blake, Kristina Blanquiz, Danielle Brock, Andrew Brown, Nathan Diefes
Jan 23
Readings: Re-read the poems at the end of Vendler Chapter 3
Rhetorical terms of the week: epanalepsis, inclusio, chiasmus
Blog posts: Jacinda Evans, John French, Mattisha Henry, Sarah Hogshire, Scott Kimball, Christopher Kotecki
(Note: since there are no additional readings for this class, feel free to write about any of the poems in Chapter 3 of the Vendler book)
Jan 26
Readings: Vendler Chapter 4
Rhetorical terms: end-stop, enjambment
Blog posts: Emanuella Kucik, Daniel Llamas, John Meyer, Leslie Moore, Elizabeth Mott, Sherry Myers
Jan 28
Blog posts: Joshua Navey, Jane Olsen, Sarah Phillips, Bethany Phillis, Jonathan Poplin
(Note: since there are no additional readings for this class, feel free to write about any of the poems in Chapter 4 of the Vendler book)
Jan 30
Readings: Vendler Chapter 5
Blog posts: Zoey Russell, Rebecca Salman, Noah Saul, Daniel Silva, Kimberly Welch, Jameson Smith
Feb 2
Blog posts: Brent Thomas, Jayce Walker, Jonathan Young, Victoria Sosa, Kevin Rosenberg, Cierra McGee
(Note: since there are no additional readings for this class, feel free to write about any of the poems in Chapter 5 of the Vendler book)
Feb 4
Readings: Vendler Chapter 6
Blog posts (see blog prompt #2): Jon Achorn, Quinn Blake, Kristina Blanquiz, Danielle Brock, Andrew Brown, Nathan Diefes
Feb 6
Blog posts (see blog prompt #2): Jacinda Evans, Mattisha Henry, Sarah Hogshire, Scott Kimball, Christopher Kotecki
(Note: since there are no additional readings for this class, feel free to write about any of the poems in Chapter 6 of the Vendler book)
Feb 9
CLASS CANCELED
Feb 11
Readings: Vendler Chapter 7
Blog posts (see blog prompt #2): Emanuella Kucik, Leslie Moore, Elizabeth Mott
Feb 13
PAPER #1 DUE
Feb 16
Readings: Vendler Chapter 8
Blog posts (see blog prompt #2): Joshua Navey, Jane Olsen, Sarah Phillips, Bethany Phillis, Jonathan Poplin
Feb 18
Readings: Vendler Chapter 9
Blog posts: (see blog prompt #2): Zoey Russell, Rebecca Salman, Noah Saul, Daniel Silva, Kimberly Welch, Jameson Smith
Feb 20
Reading: Vendler Appendix on Prosody pages 659-665 (stop at the section heading "Rhymes and Stanza Forms"), 673-4, John Dryden: "To the Memory of Mr. Oldham" (463), H.D.: "Helen" (488), Edgar Allan Poe: "To Helen" (559), Wallace Stevens: "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" (612)
Note: In addition to completing the reading, do your best to diagram the rhythm in the Dryden poem; at the beginning of class I'll walk around to look at your book to make sure you've attempted this.
Blog posts (see blog prompt #2): Brent Thomas, Jonathan Young, Victoria Sosa, Kevin Rosenberg, Cierra McGee
Unit 2: The Romantic-Era Sonnet (Note: All page numbers in this section refer to the Century of Sonnets book)
Feb 23
Readings: Charles Lloyd: “Whether Thou Smile or Frown…” (93), Charlotte Smith: “From Petrarch” (33), Thomas Russell: “To Valclusa” (49), Coleridge: “On a Discovery Made Too Late” (60)
Blog posts: Jon Achorn, Quinn Blake, Kristina Blanquiz, Danielle Brock, Andrew Brown, Nathan Diefes
Feb 25
Readings: Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Sonnets from the Portuguese, I-V, XIII-XIV, XLIII (these begin on page 216)
Blog posts: Jacinda Evans, Mattisha Henry, Sarah Hogshire, Scott Kimball
Feb 27
Readings: Mary Robbins, “Sappho Discovers Her Passion” (74), “Describes Phaon” (76), “She Endeavors to Fascinate Him” (78), “Her Last Appeal to Phaon” (88), Mary Bryan: “To -- --“ , “To -- --“ (150; read both poems), Elizabeth Cobbold: Sonnets of Laura: “I. Reproach,” “II. The Veil,” “III. Absence” (178-9)
Blog posts: Emanuella Kucik, Leslie Moore, Elizabeth Mott, Christopher Kotecki
Mar 2
Readings (please print these and bring them to class): John Milton: "Sonnet 14," "Sonnet 22," "Sonnet 23"
Blog posts: Joshua Navey, Jane Olsen, Sarah Phillips, Jonathan Poplin
Mar 4
MID-TERM EXAM
Mar 6
Class Canceled
Mar 9-13
Spring break; no class
Mar 16
Readings: Coleridge: “Life” (64), “To the Autumnal Moon” (60), Charlotte Smith: “The Sea View” (38), “Written at the Close of Spring” (30), Wordsworth: “Scorn Not the Sonnet” (131)
Blog posts: Zoey Russell, Rebecca Salman, Noah Saul, Daniel Silva, Kimberly Welch, Jameson Smith
Mar 18
Readings: Charlotte Smith: “To a Nightingale” (30), “To Sleep” (31), Anna Seward: “To the Poppy” (103), “Written December 1790” (104), Wordsworth: “Mutability” (131), Keats: “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” (158)
Blog posts: Brent Thomas, Jonathan Young, Victoria Sosa, Kevin Rosenberg, Cierra McGee
Mar 20
Readings: Wordsworth: The River Duddon Sonnets (begins on p. 118), I, II, II, IV, V, VI, William Beckford: “Elegiac Sonnet to a Mopstick” (91)
Blog posts: Jon Achorn, Quinn Blake, Kristina Blanquiz, Danielle Brock, Andrew Brown, Nathan Diefes
Mar 23
Readings: Coleridge: “No. IV. La Fayette” (56), Wordsworth: “To Toussaint L’Ouverture” (117), Joseph Hucks: “To Freedom” (99), Martha Hanson: “How Proudly Man Usurps the Power to Reign” (137), Shelley: “Feelings of a Republican on the Fall of Bonaparte” (163), “England in 1819” (167)
Blog posts: Jacinda Evans, Mattisha Henry, Sarah Hogshire, Bethany Phillis, Scott Kimball
Mar 25
Readings: Robert Southey: “Poems on the Slave Trade” (read poems I, II, III, IV, V, and VI; pages 94-96)
Blog posts: Emanuella Kucik, Leslie Moore, Elizabeth Mott, Christopher Kotecki
Mar 27
Readings: Wordsworth: “Steamboats, Viaducts, and Railways” (131), “On the Projected Kendal and Windermere Railway” (132), “With Ships the Sea Was Sprinkled Far and Nigh” (114), “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, Sep. 3, 1803” (115), John Thelwall: “On the Rapid Extension of the Suburbs” (67)
Blog posts: Joshua Navey, Jane Olsen, Sarah Phillips, Jonathan Poplin
Unit 3: Longer Poetry (note: all page numbers in this section refer to The Prelude and Don Juan)
Mar 30
Readings: The Two-Part Prelude of 1799, Part I (1-13)
Blog posts: Zoey Russell, Rebecca Salman, Noah Saul, Daniel Silva, Kimberly Welch, Jameson Smith
Apr 1
Readings: The Two-Part Prelude of 1799, Part II (13-27)
Blog posts: Brent Thomas, Jonathan Young, Victoria Sosa, Kevin Rosenberg, Cierra McGee
Apr 3
Readings: The Prelude 1805 version, Book I
Jon Achorn, Quinn Blake, Kristina Blanquiz, Danielle Brock, Andrew Brown, Nathan Diefes
Apr 6
Readings: The Prelude 1805 version, Book II
Blog posts: Jacinda Evans, Mattisha Henry, Sarah Hogshire, Bethany Phillis, Scott Kimball
Apr 8
Readings: The Prelude 1805 version, Book III
Blog posts: Emanuella Kucik, Leslie Moore, Elizabeth Mott, Christopher Kotecki
Apr 10
HOLIDAY: NO CLASS
Apr 13
No readings: You will use today's class time to work on your Wikipedia group projects
Apr 15
Readings: The Prelude 1805 version, Book XI
Blog posts: Joshua Navey, Jane Olsen, Sarah Phillips, Bethany Phillis, Jonathan Poplin
Apr 17
Readings: The Prelude 1805 version, Book XII
Blog posts: Brent Thomas, Jonathan Young, Victoria Sosa, Kevin Rosenberg, Cierra McGee
Apr 20
Note: You will receive 5 minutes at the beginning of the class to coordinate your Wikipedia project
Readings: Byron: Canto I (stanzas 1-110)
Blog posts: Zoey Russell, Rebecca Salman, Noah Saul, Daniel Silva, Kimberly Welch, Jameson Smith
Apr 22
WIKIPEDIA PROJECT DUE
Readings: Byron: Canto I (stanzas 111-222)
Optional Blog Post
Apr 24
Readings: Byron: Canto II (stanzas 1-99)
Optional Blog Post
Apr 27
Readings: Byron: Canto II (stanzas 100-216)
Optional Blog Post
CREATIVE RESPONSE ASSIGNMENT DUE
May 7
FINAL EXAM: 12:00PM (NOTE DIFFERENT TIME)
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Assignments
Blog posts: 15%
Rotating Due Dates
Over the course of the semester, each student will be required to post several times to the course blog. Posts are due by 8AM the morning of class. This is to give the rest of the class time to read your posts before we meet. Late posts will be penalized.
Before you make your first post, you must be added to the course blog as an author. Sometime during the week before you are scheduled to make your first post, you will receive an email from me inviting you to be an author on the blog. Click on the link in the email to accept. If you do not have a Google account you will be required to sign up for one, otherwise you will be able to log in to blogger.com using your gmail user ID and password.
Your post should be 250-500 words in length, or about a page or two in Microsoft Word using a standard 12-point font and double spacing. Your post can address any one of the poems from the next class period’s readings in whatever style you see fit. You can pose a thoughtful question about the readings (obviously your question will need to be very detailed to fulfill the length requirement), make an argument about your interpretation of the poem, explore a connection between the poem and one we’ve read previously, or something else entirely. The only content requirements are that your post be thoughtful and analytical and deal primarily with one of the poems. If you get stuck and don’t know what to write about, consult the list of questions we developed in Unit 1.
Participation and quizzes: 15%
Each student is required to complete the readings for each class period and to participate fully in our class discussions.
As we will discuss in detail in class, it will not be enough to simply skim through the readings; most poems will require several close, attentive readings. Thus, it is required not only that you read the assigned poems, but also that you understand them to the best of your ability. I will check your reading comprehension with periodic pop quizzes.
You will also be required to participate fully in class discussions. Each student will be required to read poems aloud (something we will do a LOT in this course), to discuss further ideas presented in your blog posts, and to respond to other students’ ideas. If you tend not to be vocal in class discussions, try setting a goal of speaking at least once each class period; if you accomplish this goal you will have a great participation grade.
Your participation grade will be tabulated at the end of the semester, based (in order of importance) on your participation in class discussions, attendance, and performance on pop quizzes.
Paper #1: 15%
Due February 13
For your first paper assignment, you will compose a 4-6-page explication of a poem we have read for class. It can be a poem that we have discussed in detail or one that we didn’t look at closely at all, but your argument and analysis must be original. If you like, you may use one of your blog posts as the basis for your paper.
The goal of this assignment is to take the kinds of things you notice in your readings and that we talk about in our class discussions and shape them into a tight, coherent, and argumentative essay. Your paper should present a clear thesis, or argument, about the poem (preferably in the first paragraph), and each body paragraph should directly work toward proving that thesis using evidence from the text. Say, for instance, your thesis is that in his poem “On My First Son,” Ben Jonson presents the poet as one who brings order to a fundamentally disordered world. You might have one paragraph arguing that Johnson’s equation of his poetry with his son’s life is an attempt to explain and rationalize his son’s tragically short life. You might write another paragraph about Johnson’s opposition of “like” and “love” in the final couplet, and how one should interpret his vow that “what he loves may never like too much.” You should not put everything you notice about the poem in your paper; only what directly pertains to the argument you are trying to make.
If you need help as you compose your paper there are several resources available to you. I am happy to look at a draft during my office hours or at some other time. The second part of Vendler’s book (which we will not be reading in class) deal with writing about poetry, and if you are nervous about the paper you may find it helpful. Finally, UNC’s Writing Center is a great resource, providing students with one-on-one instruction with a well-trained writing tutor.
Mid-term exam: 10%, Final exam: 10%
Mid-term March 4
Final May 7, 12:00 PM
For both your mid-term and final exams, you will be asked to write a short essay about a poem we have not discussed in class. In addition to the poem itself, you may be provided with some brief information about the author’s biography or the poem’s historical or cultural context. You do not have to use this information; you are welcome to use any of the methodologies we have discussed in class, even purely formal ones.
As I noted on the first day of class, I will not require you to memorize names, titles, or dates. However, you will be expected to be comfortable using the reading strategies we have studied in class, and you will also be expected to have a command of the vocabulary discussed in class. If you are wondering what you should study, you should concentrate on the list of reading questions we developed in class as well as any special vocabulary terms you have learned (including our weekly discussions of rhetorical figures, terminology relating to our studies of genres, and other more general vocabulary that has come up in class). Try to use the vocabulary terms we discussed in class whenever possible to show that you have learned from our discussions. The best way to prepare for the exams, however, is to practice reading and writing about poems as much as possible.
Group project: Wikipedia entry on genre: 20%
Due April 22
Based on my experience, online encyclopedia Wikipedia is the most-used reference resource by UNC undergraduates. As you no doubt know, Wikipedia is extremely controversial, especially among academics, due to the fact that anyone is free to add to or edit the content on the site.
Rather than presenting you with yet another cautionary tale about how easily Wikipedia is manipulated, this semester we’re going to work together as a class to make Wikipedia better. Students will work together in groups to create Wikipedia entries on poetic genres.
Your entries should consist of the following parts, though additional sections may be necessary based on the demands of your particular genre:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet
In addition to the document itself, please compose a short note detailing each group member's contribution to the project. In general, all group members will receive the same grade for this assignment, but I reserve the right to assign individual grades if individual group members perform a far greater or lesser share of the work.
Though your group will not be required to submit your finished product to Wikipedia (which requires some technical expertise), any group who does submit their work to Wikipedia will receive 10 bonus points on this assignment (effectively raising your grade by one letter!).
Topic - Group:
aubade - Elizabeth, Danielle, Cierra, Zoey, Jacinda
pastoral elegy - Kevin, Emanuela, Chris, Jonathan Young, Brent
horatian ode - Bethany, Jon Achorn, Dan Silva, Jon Poplin, Kristina
idyll - Sarah Phillips, Sarahbeth Hogshire, Quinn, Mattisha, Janie
carpe diem poems - Jamison, Leslie, Scott, Andy, Josh
pindaric ode - Victoria, Rebecca, Kimberly, Noah, Nathan
Creative Response Assignment (formerly known as Paper #2): 20%
Due April 27
We've done a lot of academic writing this semester in your blog posts, papers, and exams, so for your final assignment I want to give each of you the opportunity to articulate your relationship with poetry in a different way. Choose any poem we have read for this course (or choose a passage from one of the longer poems such as The Prelude or Don Juan), and compose a creative response to the poem in the medium of your choice. I'm leaving this totally open-ended, but here are some ideas...
In addition to the response itself the assignment will require two things:
Rotating Due Dates
Over the course of the semester, each student will be required to post several times to the course blog. Posts are due by 8AM the morning of class. This is to give the rest of the class time to read your posts before we meet. Late posts will be penalized.
Before you make your first post, you must be added to the course blog as an author. Sometime during the week before you are scheduled to make your first post, you will receive an email from me inviting you to be an author on the blog. Click on the link in the email to accept. If you do not have a Google account you will be required to sign up for one, otherwise you will be able to log in to blogger.com using your gmail user ID and password.
Your post should be 250-500 words in length, or about a page or two in Microsoft Word using a standard 12-point font and double spacing. Your post can address any one of the poems from the next class period’s readings in whatever style you see fit. You can pose a thoughtful question about the readings (obviously your question will need to be very detailed to fulfill the length requirement), make an argument about your interpretation of the poem, explore a connection between the poem and one we’ve read previously, or something else entirely. The only content requirements are that your post be thoughtful and analytical and deal primarily with one of the poems. If you get stuck and don’t know what to write about, consult the list of questions we developed in Unit 1.
Participation and quizzes: 15%
Each student is required to complete the readings for each class period and to participate fully in our class discussions.
As we will discuss in detail in class, it will not be enough to simply skim through the readings; most poems will require several close, attentive readings. Thus, it is required not only that you read the assigned poems, but also that you understand them to the best of your ability. I will check your reading comprehension with periodic pop quizzes.
You will also be required to participate fully in class discussions. Each student will be required to read poems aloud (something we will do a LOT in this course), to discuss further ideas presented in your blog posts, and to respond to other students’ ideas. If you tend not to be vocal in class discussions, try setting a goal of speaking at least once each class period; if you accomplish this goal you will have a great participation grade.
Your participation grade will be tabulated at the end of the semester, based (in order of importance) on your participation in class discussions, attendance, and performance on pop quizzes.
Paper #1: 15%
Due February 13
For your first paper assignment, you will compose a 4-6-page explication of a poem we have read for class. It can be a poem that we have discussed in detail or one that we didn’t look at closely at all, but your argument and analysis must be original. If you like, you may use one of your blog posts as the basis for your paper.
The goal of this assignment is to take the kinds of things you notice in your readings and that we talk about in our class discussions and shape them into a tight, coherent, and argumentative essay. Your paper should present a clear thesis, or argument, about the poem (preferably in the first paragraph), and each body paragraph should directly work toward proving that thesis using evidence from the text. Say, for instance, your thesis is that in his poem “On My First Son,” Ben Jonson presents the poet as one who brings order to a fundamentally disordered world. You might have one paragraph arguing that Johnson’s equation of his poetry with his son’s life is an attempt to explain and rationalize his son’s tragically short life. You might write another paragraph about Johnson’s opposition of “like” and “love” in the final couplet, and how one should interpret his vow that “what he loves may never like too much.” You should not put everything you notice about the poem in your paper; only what directly pertains to the argument you are trying to make.
If you need help as you compose your paper there are several resources available to you. I am happy to look at a draft during my office hours or at some other time. The second part of Vendler’s book (which we will not be reading in class) deal with writing about poetry, and if you are nervous about the paper you may find it helpful. Finally, UNC’s Writing Center is a great resource, providing students with one-on-one instruction with a well-trained writing tutor.
Mid-term exam: 10%, Final exam: 10%
Mid-term March 4
Final May 7, 12:00 PM
For both your mid-term and final exams, you will be asked to write a short essay about a poem we have not discussed in class. In addition to the poem itself, you may be provided with some brief information about the author’s biography or the poem’s historical or cultural context. You do not have to use this information; you are welcome to use any of the methodologies we have discussed in class, even purely formal ones.
As I noted on the first day of class, I will not require you to memorize names, titles, or dates. However, you will be expected to be comfortable using the reading strategies we have studied in class, and you will also be expected to have a command of the vocabulary discussed in class. If you are wondering what you should study, you should concentrate on the list of reading questions we developed in class as well as any special vocabulary terms you have learned (including our weekly discussions of rhetorical figures, terminology relating to our studies of genres, and other more general vocabulary that has come up in class). Try to use the vocabulary terms we discussed in class whenever possible to show that you have learned from our discussions. The best way to prepare for the exams, however, is to practice reading and writing about poems as much as possible.
Group project: Wikipedia entry on genre: 20%
Due April 22
Based on my experience, online encyclopedia Wikipedia is the most-used reference resource by UNC undergraduates. As you no doubt know, Wikipedia is extremely controversial, especially among academics, due to the fact that anyone is free to add to or edit the content on the site.
Rather than presenting you with yet another cautionary tale about how easily Wikipedia is manipulated, this semester we’re going to work together as a class to make Wikipedia better. Students will work together in groups to create Wikipedia entries on poetic genres.
Your entries should consist of the following parts, though additional sections may be necessary based on the demands of your particular genre:
- A definition of the genre, including explanations of its key formal traits
- A historical overview of the genre, including its origins / influences, key poets who shaped the genre, and how/if the genre has been used by contemporary poets
- Examples of a few definitive works within the genre, including critical explications of how those examples fit into the genre's history
- Brief summaries of the most important works of literary criticism about the genre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet
In addition to the document itself, please compose a short note detailing each group member's contribution to the project. In general, all group members will receive the same grade for this assignment, but I reserve the right to assign individual grades if individual group members perform a far greater or lesser share of the work.
Though your group will not be required to submit your finished product to Wikipedia (which requires some technical expertise), any group who does submit their work to Wikipedia will receive 10 bonus points on this assignment (effectively raising your grade by one letter!).
Topic - Group:
aubade - Elizabeth, Danielle, Cierra, Zoey, Jacinda
pastoral elegy - Kevin, Emanuela, Chris, Jonathan Young, Brent
horatian ode - Bethany, Jon Achorn, Dan Silva, Jon Poplin, Kristina
idyll - Sarah Phillips, Sarahbeth Hogshire, Quinn, Mattisha, Janie
carpe diem poems - Jamison, Leslie, Scott, Andy, Josh
pindaric ode - Victoria, Rebecca, Kimberly, Noah, Nathan
Creative Response Assignment (formerly known as Paper #2): 20%
Due April 27
We've done a lot of academic writing this semester in your blog posts, papers, and exams, so for your final assignment I want to give each of you the opportunity to articulate your relationship with poetry in a different way. Choose any poem we have read for this course (or choose a passage from one of the longer poems such as The Prelude or Don Juan), and compose a creative response to the poem in the medium of your choice. I'm leaving this totally open-ended, but here are some ideas...
- A painting or drawing inspired by the poem
- Set the poem to music and submit a recording
- A poetic response written in verse (maybe you could write a response to Wordsworth's "Scorn Not the Sonnet" where you take out your frustrations over studying the sonnet for 5 straight weeks?)
- A dramatic reading of the poem submitted on CD or Mp3
- A video dramatization or interpretation (bonus points for uploading it to youtube or vimeo!)
- A collage or a series of photographs based on the poem
- Translate the poem to a different written medium: short story, short screenplay, etc.
- (If you want to be totally lame) an academic analysis of the poem along the lines of paper #1
In addition to the response itself the assignment will require two things:
- You must email me a plan / proposal for your assignment before April 20. If I do not receive a proposal by that day you will not only have 10 points deducted from your final grade for the assignment, but also you will run the risk of doing something that doesn't meet my expectations. I will do my best to respond to all of the proposals within a day or two, but if you need more time than that I am happy to accept proposals earlier than the 20th.
- When you turn in the final product on the 27th you will also submit a 1-2-page writer's memo detailing how the original poem inspired your project. This doesn't have to be an extremely detailed analysis of the poem, but this is the space where I want to see how much thought you put into the project... for instance, it won't be enough to simply take a bunch of photos of rocks and trees and say that they're inspired by Wordsworth's The River Duddon sonnets; you're going to have to explain what specific passages you were inspired by and how your project is in dialogue with the original poem.
- The scope / ambition of your project
- How well you execute the plans outlined in your proposal
- The depth / sensitivity of your reading of the original poem, as displayed in both the project itself and the writer's memo
Syllabus
English 120, Section 003 Fall 2006 1:00-1:50 PM, MWF Instructor: Daniel Lupton dlupton@email.unc.edu | Office: Greenlaw Hall 307 Office Hours: MWF 12:00 PM-1:00 PM (note: I am on campus almost every day and I would be happy to meet with you at a time other than my regular office hours) |
Course Description
This course is designed to train students in a variety of different methods for approaching, interpreting, discussing, and writing about poetry. Students who have struggled with poetry in the past will appreciate that this course assumes no prior expertise. We will start, quite literally, at the beginning, breaking down the often-mystifying task of reading and understanding poetry into a series of simple, fundamental questions. Students who are already comfortable reading and writing about poetry will appreciate the chance to experiment with the numerous and diverse methodologies that we will study this semester. By approaching the study of poetry as both a skill (an activity you can learn or be trained in) and an art (an activity that invites creativity and invention), I hope that students with an extremely wide array of interests, skills, talents, and life experiences will enjoy and profit from the course.
Unit 1: Approaches to Poetry
Reading a poem for the first time can be a disorienting, intimidating, and ultimately discouraging experience. More often than not, though, the difference between experienced and inexperienced readers of poetry is simply that the experienced readers know how to ask the right kinds of questions. In this unit we will develop strategies for reading and re-reading poems, strategies that can get us around the barriers—obscure or archaic language, unfamiliar forms, unconventional syntax—that stand in the way of our appreciation of poetry. We will develop this set of questions (which students will continue to refer to throughout the rest of the course) through a close examination of a wide variety of lyric poetry from the Middle Ages until the 20th century.
Unit 2: Studies in Genre and Historical Criticism: The Romantic-Era Sonnet
In Unit 1 we looked at poems largely outside their historical and literary contexts, concentrating on what those poems have to say to us as 21st-century readers. However, investigating these contexts is extremely important in modern literary scholarship, and can help even the casual reader gain a richer, fuller appreciation of a poem. In Unit 2 we will examine a number of sonnets from the first half of the 19th century, investigating how these poems fit into both the political and historical context of their own time as well as the sonnet’s centuries-old poetic tradition. As in Unit 1, we will work together to determine what types of historical questions are “on the table” for literary scholars as well as what research tools and methods scholars use to answer these questions.
Unit 3: Longer Narrative and Philosophical Poetry
In our final unit, we will apply the strategies and techniques we have learned over the course of the semester to two longer works of narrative and philosophical poetry: Wordsworth’s The Prelude and Lord Byron’s Don Juan. These longer poems resemble lyric poetry in the density of their language and their reliance on traditional poetic forms and techniques, but their narrative structures and modes of argument also require their readers to approach them in way normally reserved for prose, fiction or drama. As we read and discuss these poems, we will think about how the approaches to lyric poetry we have studied this semester can also inform our interpretation of both narrative poems like Don Juan as well as novels, essays, and other types of literature that may be considered “poetic,” but not “poetry.”
Required Texts
Vendler, Helen Hennessy. Poems, Poets, Poetry : An Introduction and Anthology. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, c1997.
Feldman, Paula R., and Daniel Robinson. A Century of Sonnets : The Romantic-era Revival, 1750-1850. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Byron, George Gordon., T. G. Steffan, and E. Steffan. Don Juan. London ;: Penguin Books, 2004.
Wordsworth, William, Mark L. Reed, and Jonathan Wordsworth. The Prelude, 1799, 1805, 1850 : Authoritative Texts, Context and Reception, Recent Critical Essays. New York: Norton, c1979.
Grading / Assignments
Blog posts: 15%
Participation and quizzes: 15%
Paper #1: 15%
Mid-term exam: 10%
Group project: Wikipedia entry on genre: 20%
Paper #2: 20%
Final exam: 10%
Attendance Policy
Your attendance at each class meeting is essential; this course is as much about discussing poetry as reading it, so in order to reap the full benefits of the course you will need to attend class regularly. Any student who accumulates more than 6 unexcused absences will fail the course (note: the only absences that will be counted as excused are those in which you are traveling on behalf of the university). Persistent tardiness may also affect your grade.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as the unattributed or unacknowledged use of another’s words or ideas and is a breach of the honor code. If I suspect you of a willful violation of the honor code, I will report you to the honor court. See your Student Guide for further information on plagiarism.
The Writing Center (http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/)
Students are encouraged to visit the UNC Writing Center (located on the lower level of Phillips Annex). The tutors at the writing center will work with you one-on-one through problems or concerns about any stage of the writing process and can provide useful feedback between in-class draft workshops. Please note that the writing center tutors will not edit or proofread your papers.
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