English 122 CS THE STUDY OF POETRY

Professor David Swerdlow Westminster College

GOALS

In this course, you will develop the following skills and competencies:

1. The ability to read and discuss poems thoughtfully

2. The capacity to sustain controlled, critical arguments based on sound analysis

3. An understanding of the craft of writing

METHOD

Each week we will consider several poems that have a similar theme. Moreover, for the first several weeks, we will focus on one element of poetry each week. For example, on our second meeting, we will read poems concerned with the theme of family, and in our discussion of those poems will discuss how the poet organized his or her poem into lines. I encourage you to participate in our discussion of these poems.

TEXT

The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century American Poetry, edited by Rita Dove

ASSIGNMENTS

Over the next 10 weeks, you will receive 5 assignments. Each assignment will ask you to respond in writing to two or three questions about the poems that we have considered in class. Each assignment is worth 20% of your final grade.

SCHEDULE

Below is an outline of what we will be considering in each of our class meetings. Each date has a list of several poems. Please read and think about those poems in ADVANCE of our meeting.

June 22: Introduction Theme: The Nature of Poetry Formal Element: Diction

“Stopping by the Woods on a Snow Evening,” Robert Frost, page 20 “To My Brother,” Lorna Dee Cervantes, page 521 “The Red Wheelbarrow,” William Carlos Williams, page 41 “The Summer Day,” Mary Oliver, page 330 “Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio,” James Wright, page 277 “Introduction to Poetry,” Billy Collins, page 381 “I Know a Man,” Robert Creeley, page 244 “The Writer,” Richard Wilbur, page 209 “Turtle,” Kay Ryan, page 421

June 29: Theme: Family Formal Element: The Line and Line-break

“The Youngest Daughter,” Cathy Song, page 538 “My Papa’s Waltz,” Theodore Roethke, page 138 “Those Winter Sundays,” Robert Hayden, page 156 “My Wicked Wicked Ways,” Sandra Cisneros, page 523 “Eating Together,” Li-Young Lee, page 543 “Hot Combs,” Natasha Trethewey, page 558 “Amateur Fighter,” Natasha Trethewey, page 558

July 6: To be Determined

July 13: Theme: Nature Formal Element: Imagery

“In a Station of the Metro,” Ezra Pound, page 54 “Reapers,” Jean Toomer, 101 “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” Wallace Stevens, page 34 “The Fish,” Elizabeth Bishop, page 147 “Traveling through the Dark,” William Stafford, page 176 “St. Francis and the Sow,” Galway Kinnell, page 271

“A Blessing,” James Wright, page277 “Stone,” Charles Simic, page 353

July 20: Theme: Love Formal Element: Music

“Love Calls Us to the Things of This World,” Richard Wilbur, page 209 “The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter,” Ezra Pound, page 53 “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock, “ T.S. Eliot, page 76 “The Lifting,” Sharon Olds, page 406 “Oranges,” Gary Soto, page 506

July 27: Theme: Grief Formal Element: Metaphor

“Skunk Hour,” Robert Lowell, page 188 “For the Anniversary of my Death,” W.S. Merwin, page 274 “Facing It,” Yusef Komunyakaa, page 441 “How It Is,” Maxine Kumin, page 233

August 3: Theme: Justice

“next to of course god America I,” e. e. cummings, page 99 “Behaving like a Jew,” Gerald Stern, page 234 “Power,” Audre Lorde, page 322 “poem at thirty,” Sonia Sanchez, page 324 “Song,” Brigit Pegeen Kelly, page 480 “Finished,” Ai, page 436

August 10: Theme: Race

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” Langston Hughes, page 127 “I, Too,” Langston Hughes, page 127 “Claudette Colvin Goes to Work,” Rita Dove, page 490 “Flounder,” Natasha Trethewey, page 559 “Lady Sings the Blues,” Terrance Hayes, page 569

August 17: Theme: Gender

“Quinceañara,” Judith Ortiz Cofer, page 485 “The Mother,” Gwendolyn Brooks, page 181 “The Abortion,” Anne Sexton, page 288 “homage to my hips,” Lucille Clifton, page 336 “to my last period,” Lucille Clifton, page 336 “Girl Friend Poem #3,” C.D. Wright, page 466 “Wedding Cake,” Naomi Shihab Nye, page 500

August 24: Theme: To be determined