ENG 106.01: Introduction to Poetry (WI)

“Poetic Form: Invention, Tradition, and Subversion”

Instructor: Dr. Meghan McGuire Email: mhmcguir@uncg.eduOffice: Curry 335E (Mailbox: MHRA 3114) Class Time: MWF 11:00 - 11:50Office Hours: T 10:00 - 1:00 pm Classroom: SOEB 219

-----------------------------------Course Goals and Materials----------------------------------------

Course Description: In this course, we will read and analyze a variety of American and British lyric, dramatic, and narrative poetry. We will focus specifically on poetic forms—like the sonnet, the ode, and the elegy—emphasizing the complex relationship that exists between form and meaning. In this class, we will work against the tendency to see poetic forms as confining and prescriptive; instead, through close reading, thoughtful analysis, writing, revision, and engaged class discussion, we will explore the potentiality that poetic forms possess for creative expression. We will look at the origins of a variety of poetic forms and then trace how those forms evolve and change through the centuries. We will explore how poets are constantly engaging with a rich and complex poetic tradition, often times reinterpreting, parodying, and even subverting that tradition. And while we will discuss formal elements of poetry like rhyme scheme, meter, imagery, and symbolism, we will approach these formal elements as a shared vocabulary that allows us better access to the experience of a poem. In this course, we will not look for “the meaning” of a poem. Instead, we will look at how a poem conveys emotional, imaginative, and intellectual pleasure through an intensity of language and an interplay between style and form. My hope is that this course will not only make you a more confident, analytical reader of poetry, but it will also help you enjoy and appreciate the experience of poetry in a more complex and nuanced way. As a writing-intensive course, this particular section of Eng.106 will require students to engage consistently with the literature through different forms of written responses, including informal close readings as well as formal revised essays.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for the GLT marker:

At the completion of this course, students will be able to:1. Demonstrate orally, in writing, or by some other means a fundamental ability to use some of the

techniques and/or methods of literary analysis. 2. Identify and/or describe some of the various social, historical, cultural, and/or theoretical contexts

in which literary texts have been written and interpreted.

Required Texts: Available for purchase at the University Bookstore & online. Please use these editions.

Browning, Abigail, and Melissa Ridley Elmes, eds. Lenses: Perspectives on Literature. 2nd ed., Hayden-McNeil Publishing, 2015. ISBN: 978-073807007-0

Strand, Mark, and Eavan Boland, eds. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. W.W. Norton & Co., 2001. ISBN: 978-039332178-4

* Additional course readings will be posted on Canvas as PDFs or links. You should print, read, and annotate these texts before class. I recognize that this requires some printing on your part, but I have chosen this method in order to keep your book costs as low as possible. Failure to bring texts (books or PDFs) to class will result in participation penalties of ½ point per occurrence and may result in a zero on an annotation quiz.

------------------------------------------------Grades------------------------------------------------Grading Scale: I utilize the full range of grades from A to F (including plusses and minuses), in keeping with university grading policies. Your final course grade will be based on the following components that make up our work for the semester. UNCG defines an A as excellent; a B as good; a C as average; a D as lowest passing grade; and an F as failure. In adherence to this scale, you should understand that a C means you successfully met the requirements of the course, not that you did poorly, which would be indicated by either a D or an F. Likewise, an A or B indicate that you met and exceeded course requirements.

A 93-100 B- 80-82 D+ 67-69A- 90-92 C+ 77-79 D 63-66B+ 87-89 C 73-76 D- 60-62B 83-86 C- 70-72 F 59 and below

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Assignments:

Assignments & Quizzes: 10% of final course gradeA set of discussion questions will be posted on Canvas for almost all of our course readings. You are required to respond to 4 sets of discussion questions throughout the semester. You may choose which discussion questions to respond to, but responses must be submitted on the day that we discuss those texts. These responses are meant to help you think critically about the texts before class and prepare you for class discussion. Therefore, you may not submit your responses at a later date. On the days that you submit responses, you are also expected to help lead our class discussion.

Most quizzes are already posted on the syllabus. If a quiz is added, you will be notified at least one class period in advance. Two types of quizzes will be given: short answer and discussion response. If a short answer quiz is given, you may not use the text or your notes. However, if a discussion response quiz is given, you will be allowed to use the text and your notes. The type of quiz given will not be announced in advance, so it benefits you to take careful notes while reading. Unannounced reading quizzes will only be given when it is obvious that students are not reading or are coming to class unprepared to discuss the texts.

Unannounced “annotation quizzes” may also occur. These quizzes are meant to make sure that you are keeping up with your readings and engaging with the material. On these quizzes, you can receive one of four grades (0, -, , +). If you do not have your text (book and/or Canvas readings) you will receive a 0. If you have your text but it is not annotated (no notes), then you will receive a -, which is equivalent to a 70. If you have your text and it includes some annotation, then you will receive a , which is equivalent to an 85. If you have your text and it includes substantial annotation, then you will receive a +, which is equivalent to a 100. I prefer that you annotate directly on the text, but notes on a separate sheet of paper are also acceptable. Keeping up with the readings (and reading each text closely) is absolutely essential if you plan to succeed in this course.*If you miss a scheduled quiz, please contact your instructor. You may be allowed to complete an alternate assignment for partial credit.

Assignments & Quizzes: 10% Creative Project and Paper: 15%Line Journal: 10% Midterm Exam: 20%Close Reading Essay (3 pgs.): 10% Final Exam: 20%Revised Close Reading Essay (5pgs.): 10% Participation: 5%

Line Journal: 10% of final course gradeSince this is a writing-intensive course, it is important that you practice writing about literature in a variety of ways. While you will compose formal essays for the class, this line journal is meant to serve as an informal way for you to engage closely and consistently with the poetry of the course. For each entry, you will choose a single line of poetry to focus on and analyze. Your informal response to this line of poetry should be between a paragraph and a page (typed, double-spaced) and can be filled with observations, questions, connections to other texts, etc. (A detailed assignment prompt will be available on Canvas). Each journal should include 10 entries—5 will be due at midterm and an additional 5 towards the end of the semester. You are free to choose which poems you write about and when you complete each entry. Each entry will receive one of the following grades: - = 70; = 85; + = 100These grades will be averaged at the end of the semester to comprise 10% of your final course grade. Missing entries will receive a 0.

Midterm Exam: 20% of final course gradeThe in-class midterm exam will be composed of a short answer/ matching section and a section of brief essay questions—I will draw heavily on class notes, quizzes, weekly discussion questions, and our collaborative midterm review guide.

Final Exam: 20% of final course gradeThe format for the final exam will be similar to that of the midterm except the essay section will be more extensive, requiring more developed responses. The final exam will focus primarily on texts discussed since the midterm, but many of the terms and ideas will be cumulative.

Close Reading Essay (3 pgs.): 10% of final course gradeFor this assignment, students will select one poem on the syllabus and conduct a close reading of that text. This is a thesis-driven argumentative essay that analyzes a specific aspect, or aspects, of a poem and supports that analysis with detailed textual evidence. (A detailed prompt will be available on Canvas)

Revised Close Reading Essay (5-6 pgs.): 15% of final course gradeStudents will revise and develop their initial close reading essay based on detailed instructor feedback.

Creative Project and Paper: 10% of final course gradeAt the end of the semester, each student will choose from one of the options below:(A detailed assignment sheet for each option will be available on Canvas.)

Option #1: Choose a poem from the syllabus and interpret that poem through a different artistic medium (painting, dance, music, digital media, mixed media, etc.). You do not need to be artistic to complete this assignment; you just need to be creative and analytical! In addition to the creative piece, you will need to submit a 2-4 page essay that persuasively argues for the validity of your artistic interpretation. The essay should outline and explain your rhetorical/creative choices, clarifying for the reader how those choices were influenced by the original text.

Option #2: Rewrite a poem from the syllabus in a different style or form. For example, make an open form poem into a sonnet or take a dramatic monologue and convert it into an ode or an elegy. This reinterpretation will also be accompanied by a 2-4 page essay that outlines and explains your rhetorical/creative choices and explores how the change in style and/or form impacts our understanding and experience of the poem.

Option #3: In a 3-4 page essay, analyze and explore the formal qualities of a contemporary song as if it were a poem, discussing genre, structure, rhyme scheme, meter, etc.

Participation: 5% of final course gradeSince this is a discussion based course, participation in class activities/workshops and regular participation in class discussion is essential. Students should come to class prepared and ready to share ideas and ask questions. (This includes bringing your books or printed materials to class.)

In order to effectively participate in class discussion, it is imperative that you read the material closely. Quickly reading an assigned text does not mean that you are prepared for class. Close reading and critical engagement with each text are necessary in order to do well in this course.

-------------------------------------------Course Policies---------------------------------------------

Academic Integrity: Each student is required to abide by the Academic Integrity Policy on all work throughout the course. Plagiarism is a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy. Violations of academic integrity are serious academic offenses that will not be tolerated in this class. I expect every student to review the guidelines and list of violations at http://academicintegrity.uncg.edu and to abide by the UNCG Academic Integrity Policy. As you will see, violations include but are not limited to plagiarism. A person commits plagiarism when he or she represents someone else's words or ideas as his or her own. In writing your papers, you must take care to avoid plagiarizing the words or ideas of others. When you use sources such as books, web pages, articles, or primary documents in your writing, you must identify them to your reader. If you quote a source directly, you must put the borrowed material in quotation marks and include a proper citation. If you take an idea from another source but put it in your own words (i.e. paraphrase it), you must still give proper credit to the source. Please use MLA-style documentation to document any sources used in written work. Be scrupulous about documenting, quoting, and citing your sources even in first drafts. A draft that has been read by your instructor or classmates has not been ‘checked’ and given the okay; it is always your responsibility to make sure you understand and have successfully followed rules of citation and documentation in all your writing.

All suspected violations of the academic integrity policy will be reported to the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities. In this class, a single violation will result in a zero on the assignment or exam. A second violation will result in an “F” for the course, and you may be suspended or expelled from the University. You can avoid these consequences by 1. never deliberately misleading your instructors or being dishonest in your writing, and 2. asking for clarification about any rules or standards for source-use that you do not understand. If you are ever unsure about how to cite a source or whether an act would be considered plagiarism, please ask me about it before you turn in your work.

Behavior policy: Students are expected to demonstrate respect for their instructor and their colleagues. Those engaging in disrespectful or disruptive behavior will be asked to leave the class and, depending upon the severity, may be permanently withdrawn from the course. UNCG regards as “disruptive” any speech or action that (1) is disrespectful, offensive, and/or threatening; (2) impedes or interferes with the learning activities of other students; (3) impedes the delivery of university services; and/or (4) has a negative impact in any learning environment. Disruptive behavior includes physically, verbally or psychologically harassing, threatening, or acting abusively toward an instructor, staff member, or toward other students in any activity authorized by the University.

Attendance: Students in a MWF class are allowed a maximum of 4 absences without a grade penalty. Each absence over 4 results in a one-half letter grade deduction from your participation grade. Students who miss 8 or more classes will fail the course. (Attendance at the final exam period is mandatory; missing this period will count as an absence.)

Students must attend every class, arrive on time with the necessary assignments and readings, and stay for the duration of the class. This attendance policy does not differentiate between "excused" and "unexcused" absences; it is your responsibility to plan for absences and to reserve your absences for unavoidable occurrences, such as illness, work-related events, advising sessions, childcare concerns, car trouble, minor emergencies, etc.

State law requires that students be allowed two absences due to religious holidays; please notify me at least 48 hours prior to your anticipated absence. Intercollegiate athletes should provide official documentation of anticipated absences early in the semester. Absences for religious holidays and documented athletic events will not count toward the maximums described above.

If you have extenuating circumstances such as a chronic illness/injury requiring prolonged medical treatment, prolonged psychological issues, etc., you should make your instructor aware of these circumstances as soon as possible and keep your instructor informed until you are able to return to class. You should also contact the Dean of Students Office, which can review documentation and notify multiple instructors on your behalf, especially if hospitalization or distress prevent you from properly doing so yourself. You should be aware, however, that the Dean of Students Office will not override any individual instructor’s attendance policy and that decisions about whether and how to accommodate students in distress are made by individual instructors. The Dean of Students office is located on the top floor of the Elliott University Center, and can be reached by phone at 336-334-5514 or email at deanofstudentsoffice@uncg.edu.

Inclement weather: In the event of a university closure or delayed opening due to weather, please visit the course Canvas site by noon on the day of our class meeting, where you will find instructions and calendar updates to minimize the effect of a missed class on our semester schedule.

Late Work Policy: All assignments turned in after the beginning of the class period when they are due will be penalized 10 pts. each day afterward, including weekends and holidays. Please arrange to have your written assignment delivered to me, emailed as a Word attachment, or placed in my mailbox by the beginning of class on the date due if you are absent, or it will be counted late. If you anticipate an absence, you should arrange to submit your work before the deadline and make up missed quizzes through an alternate assignment. You must complete every assignment to pass this class.

*Computer and/or printer problems will occur, but these are not legitimate excuses for late work. All work should be printed and stapled before class begins. Assignments are due at the beginning of class.

MLA Citation and Format: All essays and submitted work should adhere to MLA guidelines. Essays should be double spaced using 12 pt. Times New Roman font and all source material (primary and secondary) should be professionally cited using correct MLA format. (OWL at Purdue is an excellent online resource for MLA formatting.)

Digital Device Policy: All digital devices should be put away and silenced before class begins. Students should not use laptops, tablets, or smartphones for note-taking, class reading, or in-class work unless explicitly asked to do so by the instructor. Students should plan to print out all Canvas readings and bring these to class rather than accessing them online during class. Exceptions to this policy to accommodate learning differences may be made with appropriate documentation. Violations to this policy (texting, accessing internet resources, etc.) will result in a warning the first time; the second and subsequent times the student will be counted absent.

Accommodations: Students with documentation of special needs should arrange to see me about accommodations as soon as possible. If you believe you could benefit from such accommodations, you must first register with the Office of Accessibility Resources and Services (http://ods.uncg.edu/) on campus before such accommodations can be made. The office is located on the second floor of the Elliott University Center (EUC) in Suite 215, and the office is open 8am to 5pm, Monday - Friday. Telephone: 334-5440; e-mail: oars@uncg.edu.

Writing Center: The purpose of the Writing Center is to enhance the confidence and competence of student writers by providing free, individual assistance at any stage of any writing project. Staff consultants are experienced writers and alert readers, prepared to offer feedback and suggestions on drafts of papers, help students find answers to their questions about writing, and provide one-on-one instruction as needed. Located in the Moore Humanities and Research Building, room 3211: (https://writingcenter.uncg.edu/)

Multiliteracy Centers:The University Speaking Center (https://speakingcenter.uncg.edu/)The Digital Act Studio (http://digitalactstudio.uncg.edu/) The Digital Media Commons (http://library.uncg.edu/spaces/dmc/)

Student Success Center: The Student Success Center (http://success.uncg.edu/) offers free services to the entire UNCG undergraduate community and is located in McIver Hall, room 104. For information and support, contact the Student Success Center at 336-334-3878 or tasp@uncg.edu.

Instructor Availability: My job, as your instructor, is to provide you with the necessary tools and techniques needed to become strong critical thinkers and writers as well as active participants in your own education. I’m here to help, and I’m always happy to meet with you and hear your questions and concerns. However, I can’t help you unless you make me aware of your problem. I strongly encourage you to stop by my office during office hours, or e-mail me to set up an appointment. I will do my best to work around your schedule; however, please be aware that I also have a busy schedule, and I am not on campus every day.

E-mail is the best way to contact me. I will do my best to respond to all e-mails within 48 hrs. If you haven’t heard back from me within 48 hrs, please make sure that the e-mail address is correct and resend your message: (mhmcguir@uncg.edu).

Course Schedule

*This schedule is tentative and subject to change

(LS) = Lenses (MP) = The Making of a Poem (CV) = Available on Canvas

Week One: Introductions & Expectations

M—1/8 Course Introductions/ Please look over the syllabus before class

W—1/10 Browning and Scudder’s “To Read is to Write” (LS 1-7) and Byron’s “Darkness” (CV)

Due: Course questionnaire

F—1/12 Syllabus Quiz: Barrionuevo’s “Poetry” (LS 11-30) and Larkin’s “This Be the Verse” (CV)

Week Two: Reading a Poem & Understanding Form

M—1/15 Martin Luther King Jr Holiday (No Class)

W—1/17 Quiz: Vendler’s “Exploring a Poem” (CV) and Hughes’s “Let America Be America Again” (CV)

F—1/19 Reread Barrionuevo’s “Poetry” (LS 11-30) and Browning’s “My Last Duchess” (MP 130-132)

Week Three: The Sonnet Tradition

M—1/22 “The Sonnet” (LS 336-337), Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” (MP 59), and Donne’s “Holy Sonnet” (MP 61)

W—1/24 Quiz: Shelley’s “Ozymandias” (MP 62) and McGuire’s “Allusion” (LS 153-156)

F—1/26 Lee’s “Theme” (LS 101-108), Keats’s “Bright Star” (MP 62), and Browning’s “XLIII” (MP 63)

Week Four: The Contemporary Sonnet

M—1/29 Hart’s “Feminist Theory” (LS 189-195), Millay’s “What lips my lips have kissed…” (MP 64) and Millay’s “Oh, oh you will be sorry for that word!” (CV)

W—1/31 Hartnett’s “Style, Voice, and Tone” (LS 117-119), Cullen’s “From the Dark Tower” (MP 65), McKay’s “Poetry” and “America” (CV), and Hayden’s “Frederick Douglass” (CV)

F—2/2 Discuss Close Reading Essay Prompt and RubricElmes’s “Writing Essays for College Literature Classes” (LS 209-221)

Week Five: The Ballad

M—2/5 “The Ballad” (MP 73-78), “The Cherry-tree Carol” (MP 78-79), and Wilde’s excerpt from The Ballad of Reading Gaol (MP 86)

W—2/7 Brown’s “Riverbank Blues” (MP 94-95) and Brooks’s “We Real Cool” (MP 94)

F—2/9 Musical Ballads: John Hurt’s “Ballad of Stagger Lee,” Doc Watson’s “Stack O’ Lee,” and Tom Waits’s “Walking Spanish” (links on CV)

Week Six: The Villanelle

M—2/12 Quiz: “The Villanelle” (MP 5-8), Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” (MP 12)

W—2/14 Roethke’s “The Waking” (MP 11) and Merrill’s “The World and the Child” (MP 13)

F—2/16 Bishop’s “One Art” (MP 11) and Hacker’s “Villanelle” (MP 16-17)

Week Seven: Haiku & Midterm Evaluation

M—2/19 Introduction to Haiku” (CV), Basho’s selected haikus (CV) and Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro” (CV)

Due: Line Journal (5 entries)

W—2/21 Review for Midterm: In-class study guide

F—2/23 Midterm Exam

Week Eight: Blank Verse

M—2/26 “Blank Verse” (MP 101-105), Shakespeare’s excerpt from Julius Caesar (MP 106-107)

W—2/28 Excerpt from Wordsworth’s The Prelude (MP 109-110) and Frost’s “Directive” (MP 113-114)

F—3/2 Discuss Creative Project Prompt & Rubric and Close Reading revisionDue: Close Reading Essay (3 pgs.)

*3/2 is the last day to withdraw from the course without academic penalty

Week Nine: Spring Break

M—3/5 Spring Break (No Class)W—3/7 Spring Break (No Class)F—3/9 Spring Break (No Class)

Week Ten: The Ode

M—3/12 “The Ode” (MP 240-241), Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” (MP 241-243)

W—3/14 Keats’s “To Autumn” (MP 243-244)

F—3/16 Wright’s “Australia 1970” (MP 249-250)

Week Eleven: The Elegy

M—3/19 “The Elegy” (MP 167-168) and Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” (MP 180-183)

W—3/21 Whitman’s “Captain! My Captain!” (MP 185) and Pound’s “A Pact” (CV)

F—3/23 Auden’s “In Memory of W.B. Yeats” (MP 188-190) and Heaney’s “Mid-term Break” (CV)

Week Twelve: Open Forms

M—3/26 Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (MP 262-266)

W—3/28 Loy’s “Parturition” (CV)

F—3/30 Spring Holiday (No Class)

Week Thirteen: Political Poetry

M—4/2 Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” (CV)

W—4/4 Hughes’s “I, Too” (MP 266) and Ginsberg’s “America” (MP 269-271)

F—4/6 Higgins’s “Some People” (CV)Due: Revised Close Reading Essay (5-6

pgs.)

Week Fourteen: Poems about Poetry & Writing

*T—4/5 Extra Credit opportunity: Attend “An Evening of Poetry” at Weatherspoon Art Gallery from 7:00– 8:30 pm

M—4/9 Yeats’s “Adam’s Curse” (LS 259-260) “The Circus Animal’s Desertion” (MP 260-261)

W—4/11 Hughes’s “The Thought-Fox” (MP 217-218)

F—4/13 Collins’s “Introduction to Poetry” (CV) and Strand’s “Eating Poetry” (CV)Due: Line Journal (5 new entries since midterm)

Week Fifteen: Revision

M—4/16 Peer Revision WorkshopDue: A printed copy of your Creative Project paper to class (2 pg. min.)

W—4/18 In-class Writing Workshop—you may bring laptops for drafting and revision

F—4/20 Review for the Final Exam and Discuss Creative ProjectsDue: Creative Project & Paper

Week Sixteen: Final Exam

M—4/23 Bring in a favorite poem to shareCourse Evaluations

W—4/25 Review for Final Exam

W—5/2 Final Exam(8:00-11:00 am)