E 371K l Modern and Contemporary Poetry
Instructor: Cullingford, E Cross-lists: None Unique #: 35080 Flags: Writing Semester: Fall 2020 Computer Instruction: Yes
Prerequisite
Nine semester hours of coursework in English or Rhetoric and Writing
Description
This course will focus upon Anglo-Irish poetry from the 1890s to the present day. We will relate the work to its cultural context, but no prior knowledge of Ireland will be assumed. Willingness to be interested in Ireland, however, is required. We will read and discuss three poets, W. B. Yeats, Seamus Heaney, and Eavan Boland. Close readings of their poems will form the basis of class discussion, and formal questions will intersect with cultural ones. For example, we will discuss both the meter and stanza form of a ballad, and Irish ballads as vehicles for political resistance. You must be prepared to look up the meaning of unfamiliar words, to search reputable online encyclopedias for historical, mythical, or cultural references, and to write weekly responses containing readings of and questions about specific poems.
Course Objectives
Overall: I want you to have a good time, create a virtual community, and leave the class looking forward to reading more poetry. I want you to hear the poetry in the popular music you listen to all the time. Poetry is not just high culture; poetry is everywhere. Think of the astounding rhymes in rap. If you write poetry yourselves, we’ll find some way to incorporate it.
Close Reading Skills: Although we are focusing on just three poets, after this course you will be able to analyze many different kinds of poetry. We will talk about meter, rhyme, stanza, and free verse, as well as image, symbol and metaphor.
Culture and History: Yeats was born in 1864 and died in 1939, the year Heaney was born. Heaney died in 2013, and Boland died earlier this year. You will learn about the most significant Irish events from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century, including the war for Irish Independence from 1916 to 1923 and the Northern Troubles from 1966 to 1998, to provide context for the verse of these three poets. You will arrive at a working definition of nationalism, which is resurgent everywhere right now.
Gender: Yeats and Heaney both represent Ireland as a woman. Eavan Boland established her feminist credentials on the rejection of this image and the attempt to write Irish women back into history as agents rather than icons. If you don’t already know, you will discover whether or not you are a feminist (it is not required), and learn to define various different kinds of feminism.
Ethnicity and Resistance: The Irish were the first (white) people to be colonized by the English, in the eleventh century; they were the first nation to become independent of the British Empire, in 1922. Their revolution served as one of the models for Indian Independence. Throughout seven centuries of British rule they developed various modes of collaboration and resistance. Yeats thought the revival of Irish culture was a resistance strategy, and the writers of the Harlem Renaissance took some of their cues from the Irish Renaissance. During the Northern Troubles, Heaney and Boland took a new look at the violence of Irish history. We will consider the idea of cultural revival as resistance throughout the course.
Texts:
W. B. Yeats, Selected Poems and Four Plays, ed. M. L. Rosenthal, Scribner, 1996
Seamus Heaney, Opened Ground: Selected Poems, 1966-1996, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1998
Eavan Boland, New Collected Poems, Norton, 2009
Requirements & Grading:
Attendance and Participation
Your virtual attendance and participation in the class are required, and will be graded. In life, a great deal of success consists in just showing up. Even if you find the online format daunting (as I do), you must come to class with your text, having already read the assigned materials, and prepared to contribute to discussion and close reading. If you have technology problems, please alert me at once.
This class carries the Writing Flag; here is the University rubric:
“Writing Flag courses are designed to give students experience with writing in an academic discipline. In this class, you can expect to write regularly during the semester, complete substantial writing projects, and receive feedback from your instructor to help you improve your writing. You will also have the opportunity to revise one or more assignments, and you may be asked to read and discuss your peers’ work. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from your written work.”
For a good grade (A or B) clear, grammatical writing and coherent argumentation will be essential. Students who have problems with their writing are strongly encouraged to meet with me and visit the University Writing Center: http://uwc.utexas.edu/ (Links to an external site.)
Pandemic stress reduction alert: there will be NO final exam. Grades will be based on:
Two 1,500-word essays, revised after feedback from me. 25% each.
Weekly reading responses (300 words each) posted to our Canvas discussion board. 25%.
Quizzes, virtual attendance, and participation in class. 25%.
Plus/minus letter grades will be assigned for the overall course grade.
Schedule:
08/26 Introduction to class and to each other
08/28 Introduction to Irish Culture
08/31 W. B. Yeats: Stolen Child, Down by the Salley Gardens, Lake Isle of Innisfree
09/02 When you are Old, Song of Wandering Aengus, He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
09/04 Conferences
09/07 Labor Day – no class
09/09 The Folly of Being Comforted, Red Hanrahan’s Song, No Second Troy
09/11 September 1913, A Coat, Irish Airman
09/14 Easter 1916, Sixteen Dead Men, The Rose Tree
09/16 The Second Coming
09/18 Conferences
09/21 Meditations in Time of Civil War
09/23 Leda and the Swan
09/25 Conferences
09/28 Among School Children
09/30 Sailing Byzantium
10/02 Conferences
10/05 After Long Silence, Meru, Politics
10/07 Seamus Heaney: Digging, Death of a Naturalist, Mid-Term Break
10/09 Conferences
10/12 Personal Helicon, Requiem for the Croppies, Bogland
10/14 The Tollund Man, Limbo, North
10/16 Conferences
10/19 Bog Queen, Grauballe Man, Punishment
10/21 Strange Fruit, Act of Union
10/23 Conferences
10/26 Whatever You Say, Say Nothing, Exposure, Casualty
10/28 Clearances iii, Lightening viii, St. Kevin and the Blackbird
10/30 Conferences
11/02 Eavan Boland: Mise Eire, The Journey
11/04 An Irish Childhood in England, The Emigrant Irish, The Latin Lesson
11/06 Conferences
11/09 The Achill Woman, The Making of an Irish Goddess, Outside History
11/11 That the Science of Cartography is Limited, The Pomegranate
11/13 Conferences
11/16 The Lost Land, Mother Ireland, Blossom
11/18 Escape, The Necessity for Irony, Quarantine
11/20 Conferences
11/23 Domestic Violence, Eviction
11/25 Thanksgiving Holiday – No Class
11/27 Thanksgiving Holiday – No Class
11/30 TBD
12/02 TBD
12/04 TBD
12/07 TBD
Policies: Documented Disability Statement: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact Services for Students with Disabilities at 471-6259 (voice) or 232-2937 (video phone), or visit http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd.
Honor Code: The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community.
Academic Integrity: Any work submitted by a student in this course for academic credit will be the student's own work. For additional information on Academic Integrity, see http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acadint.php.
Religious Holy Days: By UT Austin policy, you must notify me of a pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a work assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holy day, I will give you an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence.
Web Site: Canvas; for classes, conferences and office hours, we will meet on Zoom.