English 401: Advanced Poetry Writing
ENGLISH 401: ADVANCED POETRY WRITING
T/Th 11-12:15 Oddfellows 222
Christopher Bakken Office: Oddfellows 220
Office Hours: MW 11-1; T 12:30-1:30; W 11-1; Th 10-11Tel: 332 4338
e-mail:
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Since this course is designed, in part, to prepare some of you for a senior project in creative writing, your practical objective will be rather ambitious: to produce a group of poems that show a new level of verbal sophistication, musicality, and ambition. You will also consider how individual poems might work together in the composition of a manuscript. For this reason, you will read an enormous amount of poetry. This reading will include several complete collections of poetry, giving you a chance to consider how a manuscript of poems is put together. In this course, you will read quickly, attentively, and voraciously, testing your notions of what constitutes poetry and honing your critical sensibilities. Your SOAs for each poet (see below) will help you practice that skill.
For the duration of this course, you will have something few poets have: an immediate and attentive audience; you will make up part of an audience for other poets in kind. In this way, we will perform an essentially positive function for one another; encouragement and support make a workshop work. But no workshop works without a corresponding risk: honesty. We will perform, then, an equally important negative function for one another. Richard Hugo, in his book The Triggering Town, defines this negative function like so: "We teach hownot to write and we teach writers to teach themselves hownot to write." At least, by the end of this course you should have a better sense of how not to write. With courage and perseverance, you may even have a better sense of how to write and you might have some strong poems of your own as proof of this accomplishment.
STATEMENTS OF ADMIRATION:
While it is easy to criticize, dispraise, and complain, learning how to praise—and learning how to praise with specific examples and details—is a difficult skill to master. As a reader of poetry who aspires to write poetry, you read in order to find what works, what moves you, what sings to you, and what techniques make poetry happen. For each poet we read in this course, you’ll submit one brief Statement of Admiration (SOA). These should constitute lively, personal responses to the material. Begin by answering this question: what single poem did you admire most from the assigned reading and WHY did you admire that poem? Then consider these other questions: What specific techniques did you admire in that poem? What about the writing made you jealous? What do you want to steal from that poem? How does that poem represent something you admire in other poems by the same poet? Quote from the poemand analyze what you quote. Suggested length: one page, single spaced. You’ll include all of your SOAs in your final portfolio.
POLICIES:
Policy on due dates: The due dates for each poetry assignment are inflexible. Late poems will not be discussed in workshop, nor considered outside of class by the instructor. Students who fail to turn in poems on time will risk the chance of failing the course.
Policy on early drafts: workshop is the proper venue for the discussion of your rough drafts. So you learn to rely on the peers in your cohort, the instructor will not read or discuss drafts in office hours.
Policy on editing and clean copy: Since poetry places a particular kind of pressure upon language—by virtue of its intensity and meticulous compression—it is crucial that your poems are proof-read as well as, if not even more fastidiously than your prose. Produce and submit clean copy.
EVALUATION:
The grade assigned to your work in this course will be determined by your ability to produce and submit poems and to complete other assignments (including one formal presentation) in a timely, professional and diligent manner. Class participation will also comprise an important part of your final grade.
1. Portfolio:Most of your grade for this course will be determined by the portfolio you turn in at the end of the semester. This portfolio will consist of four items:
1) A prose "introduction" to your portfolio. This is your chance to say anything about your performance in the course, about the poems you did and did not make. A statement of your "aesthetic" is not necessary, but some account of what you attempted, what you succeeded in, what you failed at, and what you learned from the assigned readings would be appropriate here. The best of these will exhibit personality, self-scrutiny, and depth. At the end of your introduction, you should make note of your top peer editors in the workshop—those fellow poets whose comments were most helpful in shaping your revisions.
2) Ten revised poems with their 'original' drafts (the draft you submitted to the class and I returned to you with notations).
3) Essay: this is not merely a written transcript of your presentation; please follow my instructions about how to transform your spoken document into a compelling written document.
4) An SOA for each poet we read (eight in total).
Please submit your portfolio typed and assembled carefully in a three-ringed binder with your name on it. No illustrations or fancy covers please. Portfolios Due: December 111h, 12pm.
2. Presentation: You will give one formal presentation this semester. Early on you will be assigned a poet/book/sequence of poems; your task will be to lead (or co-lead) a discussion on these texts. These presentations will require some research, close reading, and intensive preparation. There will be no “make up” presentations. If you are not prepared to give your presentation on the due date or if you do not “attend” your own presentation, you should not expect to pass the course.
3. Class Participation & Attendance: You will also be asked to provide spoken and written critiques on the work of your peers; your participation in this activity will be considered in formulating your final grade. Since the course is organized as a workshop, attendance and class participation are mandatory. Students who miss more than four classes will find their grade lowered by as much as a full letter grade. Students who miss more than six classes should not expect to pass. Attendance at Single Voice Readings (indicated on the syllabus) and other campus literary events is mandatory.
TEXTS:
Required:
Nickole Brown,Fanny Says. BOA Editions. Paper 978-1938160578
Jessica Jacobs, Pelvis with Distance.White Pine Press. Paper 978-1935210665
Philip Larkin, Collected Poems.FS & G. Paper. 0374529205
Adrienne Rich, Diving into the Wreck. Norton, Paper. 0393346013
B.H. Fairchild, Early Occult Memory Systems of the Lower Midwest.
Norton. Paper. 978-0393325669
Louise Glück.Poems: 1962-2012FS&G. Hardcover. 978-0374126087
Nicky Beer, The Octopus Game. Carnegie Mellon. Paper. 0887485936
Brian Barker, The Black Ocean.Southern Illinois UP. Paper. 0809330288
Encouraged:
After Greece,Christopher BakkenGoat Funeral, Christopher Bakken
COURSE CALENDAR:
Texts/Poems Listed Below are to be read before you arrive in class.
August
25 Course Introduction. Assignment for Poem #1: The Private Public Space.
27 Models of Private Public Space poem. Read Philip Larkin, “Church Going” (58) &
poems inphotocopy packet.
September
1 Submit Poem/Assignment #1. Read Philip Larkin:“Here”(79); “Water” (91); “The
WhitsunWeddings”(92); “Ambulances” (104); “Sunny Prestatyn” (106) “High Windows” (129); “This Be the Verse” (142); “The Explosion” (154); “Aubade” (190); “The Mower”(194). SOA on Larkin Due. Presentation: Bradley Baronner.
3 Discuss poems.
8 Submitpoem. Read Nickole Brown, Fanny Says (Parts I, II, & III). SOA on Nickole Brown
due. Presentation: Alana Picozzi.
10 Discuss poems
15 Submit “Fanny”/Persona PortraitPoem. Read Nickole Brown, Fanny Says (Parts IV). &
ReadJessica Jacobs, Pelvis with Distance (1-71). Presentation: Alana Picozzi (Brown, cont.) Emily Overheim (Jacobs)
17 Discuss poems
22 Submit poem. Read Jessica Jacobs, Pelvis with Distance (72-end). SOA onJessica Jacobs
due. Presentation: Emily Overheim.
24 Discuss poems. Nickole Brown & Jessica Jacobs on campus. Q&A @ 1:30. Reading @ 7pm.
29 Submit poem.Read B.H. Fairchild: “Early Occult Memory Systems…” [7]; “Moses
Yellowhorse....” [8]; “Mrs. Hill” [11]; “Rave On” [27]; “History” [41]; “Luck” [45]; “Brazil” [49]; “A Photograph of the Titanic” [97]; “A Starlit Night” [101]. SOA on Fairchild Due. Presentation:Logan Battin.
October
1 . Discuss poems.
6 Submit Glück-esque poem. Read Louise Glück: “The Wound” [13]; “All Hallows” [59]; “The
Pond” [60]; “The Fire” [89]; “The Apple Trees” [96]; “Mock Orange” [147]; “Metamorphosis” [148]; “Mythic Fragment” [156]; “The Triumph of Achilles” [159]; “Elms” [189]; “Horse” [199]; “Lullaby” [212]; “MountArarat”[213]; “The Wild Iris” [245]; “Trillium” [248]; “Clear Morning” [251]; “Matins” [267]; “Matins” [268]; “The Red Poppy” [271]; “Vespers” [278-280]; “Penelope’s Song” [307]; “Siren” [328]; “Island” [441]; “The Balcony” [443]; “Memoir” [479]; “Landscape” [524-531]. SOA on Glück Due. Presentation: Keri Tucker.
8 Discuss poems.
13 Fall Break
15 No Class.
20 Submit Poem. Read Brian Barker (1-51). SOA on Brian Barker due. Presentation: Jared
McCollum.
22 Discuss poems.
27 Gator Day
29 Submit poem. Read Brian Barker, cont. (52-end). Read Nicky Beer, The Octopus Game.
Presentation: Jared McCollum (Barker, cont.) & Kyle Ross(Beer).
November
3 Discuss poems.
5 Submit poems. Read Nick Beer, The Octopus Game, cont. SOA on Nicky Beer due.
Presentation: Kyle Ross.
Nicky Beer & Brian Barker on campus. Q&A @1:30. Reading @ 7pm.
10 Discuss poems.
12 Submit poems. Read Adrienne Rich, Diving into the Wreck. Presentation: Amy Marchetta
& Zach Sullivan
17 Discuss poems.
19 Submit poems. Read Adrienne Rich, Diving into the Wreck. cont. SOA on Adrienne Rich
due.Presentation: Amy Marchetta & Zach Sullivan.
24 Discuss poems. Submit revisions.
26 Thanksgiving
December
1 Revision speed workshop.
3 TBD
8 TBD
Portfolios Due: December 111h, 12pm