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"the poet like an acrobat . . ."
English 260C (08063-3): Introduction to Poetry
Autumn 2001, M/W: 3:30 - 5:18 PM, Denney Hall 308
These listserv responses serve three goals:
1) to compel you to actively read these poems
2) to help your peers understand these poems even as they're reading them
3) to broach issues for class discussion
Sign up for two slots, but please make sure the poets are at least three weeks apart. In your post, be sure to respond to the correct material. Once you've signed up for a slot, choose one of the poems to analyze closely in your response (if the poem is incredibly short, you may respond to more). If applicable and appropriate, attempt to focus your response on an element of poetry as presented in class. Use the response as an opportunity to develop a preliminary interpretation of the poem as well as steer class discussion in the direction of issues you want to work with. These papers are informal, thus need not be polished; however, they should be fully engaged with the ideas and themes of the individual poem. Conclude your response with questions for class discussion and a link to and brief description of a useful website on the poet (using the research strategies illustrated in class). You will be responsible to perform the poem (or a large chunk of it) in class.
Submit your response to the listserv, listserv-blazer@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu, no later than 12PM on the the Saturday before the poet is to be discussed in class. This is especially important for your peers and I, who base class discussion on your responses, need time to read your post. Responses will be penalized one letter grade for each day late; responses turned in on the day the poems are to be discussed in class will receive an "E". As this policy will be strictly enforced, I suggest submitting your response to the listserv well in advance of the deadline in order to make sure it goes through and your peers and I have the benefit of your reflection as we read the poems. Finally, because we have differing operating systems and software, please refrain from sending attachments.
For example, if you sign your name in the box beside the box containing Friedrich Hölderlin's "Voice of the People," "Chiron," "Germania, and "The Only One," your response, which you would submit to the course listserv by 12 PM Saturday, October 5, should include 1) 250 words of close reading of one of those poems, 2) 2-3 questions for class discussion, 3) a link to and brief description of an authoritative website devoted to giving interpretation and biography of Hölderlin.
Using the online poetry resources exemplified in class, answer the following questions.
As we covered them in class, these poems are fair game on the exam. You are not expected to do close readings of them, but you should be able to make figural and thematic connections and distinctions among them.
Shakespeare: [Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?]
[My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun]
Shelley: "Sonnet: Lift Not the Painted Veil"
"Mutability"
Keats: "Ode to a Nightingale"
[When I have fears that I may cease to be]
Browning: "My Last Duchess"
"Meeting at Night"
"Parting at Morning"
"Porphyria's Lover"
Dickinson: [I heard a fly buzzwhen I died]
[A loss of something ever felt I]
Frost: "The Road Not Taken"
"Mending Wall"
"After Apple-Picking"
Hughes: "The Weary Blues"
"Democracy"
"Mother to Son"
"I, Too"
Eliot: "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
Stein: "Objects" from Tender Buttons
Williams: "Poem"
"This Is Just to Say"
"The Red Wheelbarrow"
"Tract"
Ferlinghetti: [Constantly risking absurdity]
[The world is a beautiful place]
"Hidden Door"
"Director of Alienation"
"The Love Nut"
Plath: "Mirror"
"You're"
"Edge"
"Daddy"
Watten: "Statistics"
"Complete Thought"
Kinnell: The Book of Nightmares
Besides showing your knowledge of poems we have discussed in class, you will also exhibit your ability to read poetry by analyzing a poem not assigned on the syllabus or for the group presentations.
These terms will be on the exam in some form or another. Don't just know their definitions, be able to analyze how they function together to create the overall meaning and theme in an individual poem.
diction: word choice
poetic diction: elevated over ordinary
formal diction: dignified/impersonal/elevated
middle diction: ordinary
informal diction: colloquial/conversational/slang
denotation: dictionary definition
connotation: personal/cultural suggestive shades
of meaning
tone: attitude and mood
figures of speech: read not literally, but imaginatively
simile: explicit comparison using like/as/than/appears/seems
metaphor: direct/explicit comparison
implied: by association
rather than equation
controlling/extended: directs
the poem
pun: play on words via homonym (same sound, diff
meaning)
synechdoche (sin-neck-de-key): part for whole or
vice verse
wagging tongue/behind bars/hands
that wrote
metonymy: substitution via close association: silver
screen
personification: human to nonhuman
apostrophe: address to absent or nonhuman
hyperbole/overstatement: exaggeration
understatement: low key, compare w/deadpan humor
paradox: self-contradictory and not-self contradictory
oxymoron: two contradictory words (silent scream)
symbol: 1) literal obj itself, and 2) open/potential meanings beyond
itself
conventional: public/cultural/traditional
literary/contextual: particular poet/poem
irony: appearance vs truth
situational irony: expectation vs occurrence
verbal irony: what said vs what meant (contextual
cues, such as sarcastic tone)
dramatic irony: reader knows more than character
(Frasier/French farce)
cosmic irony: God/destiny/fate vs hope/expectation
Although you won't be asked specific questions about these elements of poetry on the exam because I don't want you to be overwhelmed by the technical in an intro to poetry course, you should nevertheless be aware of them when reading poetry in general. In other words, I won't specifically ask about sound, rhyme, and rhythm, but if you know enough about them, and that understandings helps you interpret the poem, use it in your response.
sound: pattern = 1) memory, 2) entertaining, 3) form/closure
onomatopoeia: word that resembles the sound it denotes
alliteration: repetition of same consonant sounds at the
beginnings of words
assonance: repetition of vowel sound
consonance: repetition of consonant sound
rhyme: two or more words/phrases that repeat same sounds
end rhyme: end of lines
internal rhyme: within line
masculine rhyme: single-syllable rhyme
feminine rhyme: stressed syllable, then unstressed syllable
rhyme
exact rhyme: same
near/off/slant/approximate: almost but not exactly
rhythm: recurrence of stressed/unstressed syllables
affects/contributes/shapes meaning
stress/accent: emphasis
meter: pattern of stresses
prosody: type of meter
scansion: measuring to determine meter
rising meter: from unstressed to stressed
falling meter: from stressed to unstressed
masculine ending: line ends w/stressed syllable
feminine ending: line ends w/unstressed syllable
foot: smallest unit, stress + 1-2 unstressed
iambic pentameter: five iambs
caesura: pause in middle of line
end-stopped line: pause at end
run-on line/enjambment: line ends w/o pausing for next line
form: overall structure or shape
fixed form: categorized by line/meter/rhyme/stanza
stanza: grouping of lines
rhyme scheme: pattern of end rhymes
couplet: two lines of same rhyme + meter
heroic couplet: rhymed iambic pentameter
tercet: three-line stanza
triplet: three-line stanza, all lines rhyme
terza rima: interlocking three-line rhyme scheme (aba)
quatrain: four-line stanza (aabb, abba, aaba, abcb)
sonnet: "little song," 14 iambic pentameter lines
Italian/Petrarchan: octave (abbaabba) + sestet (cdecde, cdcdcd, or cdccdc)
English/Shakespearean: three quatrains + couplet (ababcdcdefefgg)
villanelle: 19 lines, 5 tercets + concluding quatrain
line 1 = lines 6,12,18 (aba aba
aba aba aba abaa)
sestina: 39 lines of 6, 6 line stanzas and a 3 line concluding
stanza called envoy
repeat 6 end words of stanza 1 in
other stanzas
epigram: brief, pointed, compressed witty (satire/irony/paradox)
poem
limerick: 5 anapestic lines (aabba), lines 1,2,5 =
3ft, lines 3+4 = 2ft
elegy: lyric poem commemorating dead, mournful contemplation
ode: serious topic + formal tone
picture poem: arrangement of words into what describe
parody: humorous imitation of another serious poem
open form/free verse: no established pattern;
modernity experiments because old forms constrain
evolving/new consciousness
prose poem: condensed prose
found poem: found writing turned into poetry
The purpose of this sheet is to form groups. Sign up for two slots, placing a #1 by your first choice and a #2 by your second choice. Once groups are assigned, those groups are responsible for meeting with me outside of class to determine a poet of the movement to research.
Romanticism: William Blake |
Anthony Giangregorio Meghan Piller Colin O'Hearn Cynthia Sherman |
Harlem Renaissance: Countee Cullen |
Joanne Brickles Audrey Torma Matt Vanderpool Rick Wade |
Confessional poetry: Anne Sexton |
Keith Davenport, Karyn Pachuta, Rob Speidel |
| Language Poetry: Bruce Andrews | Beth Eilerman Andrea Smith Lisa Sullivan |
| Beat Poetry (group's choice): Jack Kerouac | Amanda Mitchell Nikki Portman |
Annotated Bibliography Component: Researching and constructing the annotated bibliography constitutes the predominat part of the assignment. Please include all of the following sections in your annotated bibliography that will be attached to the course website. Beyond these elements, the design of the page is left up to you: be as creative as you wish. Feel free to make my website look bad and boring: use pictures, audio, animation. Have fun with it!
Due: All web page materials are due either via email attachment to or disk Monday, November by 10 AM.
Research Topic
Give the broad concept or issue that you’ll be investigating.Research Question
Contextualize what you already know, based upon class discussion, and pose a question or two that has guided your research.Search Strategy
Recapitulate where and how you went about your search for sources. A few words to the wise about obtaining print sources: 1) Don’t put this off until the last minute. You should request and check out materials from libraries a full two weeks before the assignment is due. “The books are in transit” or “The books were checked out” does not constitute a valid excuse for a bibliography lacking 10 sources. 2) Note that OSCAR will tell you if OSU owns a particular journal, but it can’t search for journal articles. Consequently, on OSU Libraries home page, before entering OSCAR, search Other Online Research Tools a) OSU’s collection of “electronic journals” (this is very limited, but it can’t hurt to try), b) “other databases by subject” page (there’s a listing of numerous databases like Language and Literature, and Psychology, which will link you to MLA Bibliography and a psychology journal search engine. (You’ll get some of the same databases with which Gateway interfaces, some with which Gateway doesn’t), and 3) finally Gateway, which searches 92 databases. 4) Once you have a critical article or book, check its works cited and reference pages for other books that might help your research. If you come up empty handed after trying OSCAR, the appropriate “databases by subject,” Gateway, and works cited pages of articles/books you've already found, ask a librarian for help! Feel free to use Columbus Metropolitan Libraries, but note they are a public library system and your search will need to be augmented by an academic library like OSU. A few words to the wise about web sources: search the university and organizational websites first (Jack Lynch's page and Internet Public Library, for example) in order to find specialized, scholarly sites, then move on to regular search engines.Summary of Findings
In 250 words, summarize the different critical interpretations of the subject-matter, describe where critics converge and diverge, and criticize the lines of argument. Compare and contrast the usefulness and informativeness of web versus print sources.20 secondary sources
Problem (Question)Identify what’s at stake or the issue or question that the source is investigating.Method (Evidence)Describe how the author supports her argument, for instance with logical claims and assumptions and/or with examples, facts, and statistics.Proposition (Thesis)Define the source’s thesis, or sub-thesis relevant to your research question, its contribution to the critical discourse, and/or how it will help your paper; note that his can be combined with the ‘problem’ section.
Group Presentation Component: In the first part of the assignment, groups will present their findings about the poetry movement to the class. I suggest speaking from the summary of findings in order to gloss what interpretations exist out there. Also, highlight and develop notes on the best of the best print sources. Feel free to guide the class through the most pertinent web sites. In the second part, groups will show how an individual poet fits into the poetry movement through reporting on critical arguments and offering their own intepretation of an exemplary poem or two. Generally speaking, highlight the best of what you found, and put your interpretation on it. Be as creative as you wish. Keep in mind that you have use of the computer projector and all software the Mac classroom has to offer (i.e., you may choose to compose a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation with all of the audiovisuals and sounds it entails). Presentations should last 15-20 minutes.
Due: Groups will present on Monday, November 19, Monday, November 26, and Wednesday, November 28.
Both the annotated bibliography and the group presentation should move beyond mere description and reporting. Instead, both should be driven by critical analysis and thesis-oriented interpretation.
Here are two examples from 367.02 course (note: they weren't composed for a computer section) on Edward Albee and Margaret Atwood. Here are examples done for a 261C course. These samples had slightly different criteria for the assignment, but they should help get you started.
There are two options for the final paper, due Wednesday, November 28 at the beginning of class.
Option 1: A critical essay, at least 2000 words long and conforming to MLA format conventions, which examines a common theme or thread among 3-4 poems by one poet. In other words, delve into the poet's worldview regarding a particular thought-feeling, using various relevant elements of poetry to analyze how that idea is rendered. Explore, for instance, how her poetic style and tone, how her primary images and metaphors convey that common theme. These poems CANNOT be poems listed on the syllabus or listserv signup, but they CAN be other poems by a poet we've read in class, poems by a poet who has been researched and presented on by a group, or a poet outside of the class reading list, subject to my approval. You must provide a copy of the poems unless you've checked with me and know I have them.
Option 2: An original poem (to be performed for the class on Wednesday, November 28) and critical self-assessment. The original poem should respond to the ideas and feelings, the primary style and imagination, in other words the worldview and the poetic psyche, of your favorite poet, the poet who has most influenced your understanding of yourself and your world. The critical self-assessment, of no less than 1250 words, should combine first an explanation of your understanding of the poet and second your artist statement explaining the ideas, feelings, and/or form you were attempting to convey in your poem, especially how they respond to your favorite poet's work. In other words, analyze your poetic process in terms of feeling and the elements of poetry utilized to render that feeling. You must turn in exemplary poems of the poet you're responding to unless you've verified with me that I have them.