Assignments

ENGL 4446/5446 Modern Poetry, Spring 2026

M 5:00-7:45 p.m., Arts & Sciences 342

Response

In the 3-4 page response paper, you will react to a poet in general and then focus on one poem in particular. What issues do the poet and poem raise, and what do you think about those ideas? What is the poem saying to you, and what do you reply? What questions do you have for and about the poet and the poem?

 

In class, you will read the poem aloud in class, informally present your response paper (without simply reading it), and broach questions for class discussion.

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Sign up here. Confer with your classmates doing the close reading paper in order to select different poems.

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Close Reading Paper and Presentation

You will collaborate with a classmate to to analyze a poem (or brief section of a long poem) in a formal 5-6 page paper and formal 5-7 minute presentation not including reading the passage aloud. Your essay and presentation should 1) do a line-by-line examination, interpreting its (for example, but not limited to) figurative language, diction, connotation, and symbol, and 2) arguing the poem's centrality to understanding the core conflicts and overall theme of the book of poetry from which it comes. Your essay should be driven by a thesis that argues the poem's theme and logically organized by close reading of the text: unpack the tension and conflict, connotation and diction, idea and theme. Your well-organized presentation should clearly convey your ideas to the class, and each member should speak during the presentation.

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Sign up here. Confer with your classmates doing the response paper in order to select different poems.

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Exam

Undergraduates will take an in-class exam composed of 2 comparison/contrast essays selected from a set of 4-6 questions. The class will generate topics as a class on Wednesday, February 18 and the professor will create 4-6 questions from those topics for the exam on Wednesday, February 25.

Poets and Books

Topics

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Wild Card

While the close reading paper and presentation compels undergraduate students to collaborate on a line-by-line explication of a particular poem, and while the annotated bibliography and presentation obliges graduate students to research and teach a poet, the wild card paper affords all students a variety of interpretive options. Choose one of the alternative assignments below, keeping in mind that your poet must be included on the syllabus before March 16 and you can not repeat your poet selection in the research paper.

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Research Paper

While the wild card paper allowed you to pursue poetic themes, influences, or responses through close attention to the text itself, the research paper merges analysis with research. Investigate a poem, poet, or poetic issue or problem in modern poetry selected by you (but not one you did your close reading or wild card paper on) and approved by the professor, and then compose an essay that proves your focused and studied interpretation through both poetic analysis and scholarly research. For instance, if focusing on a poem, you could study The Maximus Poems and write an essay on Gloucester's (and America's) epic history; if focusing on a poet, you could study Charle Olson's projectectivist verse and vision as reflected in selected poetry; if a poetic issue, you could study the problem of portraying social and historical place in Olson's work. Whatever your topic, make sure it's narrow and researchable. Your thesis-driven paper should employ textual analysis and support its interpretation with scholarly criticism.

Undergraduate Students

In order to outline the paper's interpretation, undergraduate students will share a 250 word informative abstract of their paper in class on Wednesday, April 29 and submit an 8-10 page research paper, which incorporates at least 5 secondary sources including both scholarly journal articles and book chapters on Monday, May 11. Failure to share the abstract on Wednesday, April 29 will result in a one-third letter grade deduction on the final paper.

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Annotated Bibliography and Presentation

Graduates students will research a poet, compose an annotated bibliography of at least 10 scholarly sources interpreting the work, and teach the poet while highlighting one of the articles on the work to the class. The citations in the annotated bibliography should be formatted to MLA style, each annotation should be approximately 100 words long, and the bibliography should conclude with a one page long explanation and evaluation of why the source was selected to be taught to the class.

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Book Review

While the annotated bibliography and presentation required you to research, evaluate, and teach a work of scholarly criticism on a postwar literary work, the book review compels you to read and evaluate an entire book of postwar American literary criticism. After consulting with the professor on a suitable book (for instance a book from which our class is reading an excerpt, or another of your choosing), write a 8-10 page essay that summarizes the book's overall theoretical/critical claim and then evaluates the thesis and methodology. Your essay should both appreciate and interrogate the book. The GeorgiaVIEW course packet contains book reviews by TBA; and you can find more examples using GALILEO.

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© Alex E. Blazer 2026