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What Is Poetry?

As poets we'd be right to claim only self-evidence if asked this question: read the poems. Yet many poets have addressed the question directly in statements of their poetics (often manifestoes) that are both description of poems they wrote and prescription for the kinds of poems they think should be written. This class will immerse you in both the poetics and the poems of Modernist poets of the early to mid-twentieth century. With their influence you'll question and refine your own poetics...and thus clarify and transform your own poems.

You, The Poet

My primary assumption in this class is that you are a poet interested in thinking about poetry and writing poetry. This double work can sometimes put our minds at odds with our instincts, but ultimately the poet writes and grows through reciprocal activities of intelligence and mystery. I'm also assuming that you, as a poet with at least several years of thinking about and writing poetry, are ready to make some claims of what you believe about poetry. This isn't about aligning yourself with a particular school nor is it about limiting yourself to just what you claim in one manifesto. As we'll see, many of these Modern poets break their tenets as often as they follow them. But I do think that there is a great power in making a public claim and then using that claim to put pressure against your own work.

What You'll Learn & How I'll Assess It

• Through this course you will become a more astute reader of poetry, particularly of Modern American poetry, in which you'll find both a common legacy and a variety of aesthetics.
• You will become further aware of poetic craft, identifying various tactics in the poems you read.
• You will become aware of poetics—the claimed tenets that identify and guide an aesthetic—and gain familiarity with some of the founding poetics of Modernism.
• You will explore and demonstrate your understanding of both poetics and poems in generous discussion and focused writerly prose (annotations) .
• You will use your reading of poems and poetics to form and claim your own poetics, clarifying some of your beliefs about poetry and raising new questions.
• Overall, the entire course will introduce new starting points in your process of crafting poems and ultimately add to your flexibility as a poet.
• You'll propose a larger direction for your work by preparing your portfolio, which, who knows, may sow the seeds for your Senior Project.

I'll look for you to demonstrate this understanding and these abilities in: 1) your consistent engagement with the reading (including adequate preparation, completion of a reading notebook, and involvement in class discussion); 2) your consistent participation in the writing process (including in-class writing, drafts of assigned poems, preparation for workshop, considered feedback to your peers); and 3) your prose (annotations and statement of poetics/manifesto). However, the portfolio is the primary means of assessment in this class.

Evaluation

• Portfolio 55%
• Reading (preparation & discussion, including Reading Notebook) 10%
• Poet Presentation & Discussion (+ Super Annotation) 10%
• Process (in-class invention & writing, workshop, assigment drafts) 10%
• Annotations (2) 10%
• Attended Performances (2) 5%

Required Texts:

Nelson, Cary, Ed. Anthology of Modern American Poetry. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000. ISBN-13: 978-0195122718
Herbert, W.N. and Matthew Hollis. Strong Words: Modern Poets on Modern Poetry. Highgate: Bloodaxe Books, 2001. ISBN-13: 978-185224515

Important supplemental resource: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps

Portfolio: Your Public Manifesto, Anthology, & Manuscript

This is a portfolio class. Everything you do in class—reading, discussion, exercises, poems, workshops, annotations, performances—should be taken as potential material for your portfolio. The portfolio you build throughout the semester demonstrates the extent and nuance of your learning about poetry. In terms of the specfic goals of this course, your portfolio is your primary publication for the class, wherein you will present: 1) your own manifesto of poetics, as well as 2) a personal anthology of poems that you see satisfying those aesthetics, and 3) your manuscript of revised poems that also reflect your successes and struggles with those poetics.

A portfolio has three audiences: yourself and a two-fold public of your poet-peers and me. As a public document, the most successful portfolio offers a view into your process of thinking and revising as much as it showcases your products. In fact, the more you can recall that the portfolio is the underlying activity of the class, the more successful your portfolio will be. But the self-consciousness of the porfolio can interfere with the dreaming, drafting, and accidents that are also crucial to writing poems. So, my best advice is to hold onto everything you do in class as raw material for the portfolio and periodically sort through it. In addition, keeping a notebook where you record your thoughts as you encounter these manifestoes and poem will create an archive of your thoughts that you can later draw on as you bring together the portfolio.

Reading & Reading Notebook

Most weeks we will devote Monday's class to reading a statement of poetics/manifesto and a selection of poems. You are expected to have read the material carefully before class, to bring the books, and to arrive with comments and questions. This material—both poetics and poems—is often difficult. Reading, then, may well mean re-reading. And given this difficulty, your preparation serves the entire class, which will need your input.
Notebook: keep a notebook where you take notes and record your thoughts as you read these manifestoes and poems. Your notebook will be a huge asset when writing your own manifesto and creating your portfolio. I'll review notebooks twice during the semester.

Poet Presentation & Discussion (+ Super Annotation)

When we have Friday class, we'll have two of you present and lead a discussion of a Modern poet, each for half of a class period. You'll sign up for a poet early in the semester, choosing from among those in Modern American Poetry (but not including those poets who we already focus on in other class periods). Prepare by reading the poems as well as excellent background material and commentary available on the Modern American Poetry (MAP) website: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps. You can expect your fellow poets to have read the poems. Your class should include:

• Background/context on the poet (create a short handout so that you can deliver this information efficiently)
• What you see as some of the defining poetics, especially as evidenced in the selection of poems
• A guided discussion through some of the poems (you shouldn't lecture but rather should lead us and ask us questions)
• An assignment that you invent for a poem we might write (inspired by these poetics)—include this on your handout.

Your Super Annotation is due on the day of your presentation. A Super Annotation is an extended prose exploration of one (or at the most two related) craft topics as you see them at work in several poems of your presentation poet. Still, keep it contained at a target length of 3-4 pages (MLA style).

Process & Workshop

The twelve drafts of poems you'll write are the center of the writing process you'll participate in over the semester. During the first term, these poems will respond to a specific assignment I'll give you each week. During the second term, you'll be able to choose your assignment from among those your classmates have presented or invent your own from the poetics we're reading. Although your draft will only be discussed in every other workshop, you are expected to write every poem.

You will participate in both Big and Small workshops. Big Workshop involves the entire class, and we'll spend 45-60 minutes on three or four poems. Small Workshop involves you breaking into three smaller groups, and you'll spend 15-30 minutes on one or two poems. Prepare for workshop by reading and commenting on the poems. Participate in workshop by sharing your observations and critiques in a way that meets the poem on its own terms and helps the poet in revision. Pass on your ideas to the poet by writing a short note in addition to marginal comments. Workshop calendar

Annotations

An annotation is a short prose analysis that pursues a single aspect of craft within a single poem. An annotation does not analyze theme; it is not what you would write in an English literature course. An annotation is obsessive, focused, and short (2 pages). The annotation can be a challenging genre, especially if you have never written one before. I'll hand out further guidelines and advice and encourage those who are unfamiliar to come talk to me about your ideas first. You'll write two (2) annotations, one each term. Due dates: Monday, March 2 & Monday, April 20.

Attended Performances

Attend two (2) performances—ideally readings—over the course of the semester and write a response (freely interpreted) to each. To receive credit, your response is due within a week of the event. You should try to attend at least one of these performances before Spring Break. The Writing Program sponsors a series of readings in the spring semester, which will give you ample options, although you may also choose events off campus. If you are doubt about the validity of an event, please ask me.

Policies

Attendance
Both our discussions and our workshops require your presence as we work in a collaborative and accumulative mode. Missed work (including in-class writing and critique) cannot be made up. Although you’ll find the most success if you attend (which means attendance with preparation) every class, you are allowed 3 absences to allow for interceding realities (illnesses and unpreventables). Remember that shift work is never an excuse for missing class, and you should schedule routine medical appointments for other times. Any absences beyond the first 3 will negatively impact your final grade; chronic lateness or early departure is equivalent to absence. Missing more than 6 classes is grounds for failure in the course.

Late Work
In-class assignments cannot be duplicated or turned in late. Likewise, worksheet material must be ready (with the appropriate number of copies) at the beginning of the class period when it is due. Late drafts may not be included in the worksheet. All late works impacts your Process grade. I understand that the assignment and your muse may not always coincide, but everyone is drafting from the same position. Bring what you have. If you are having difficulties with a particular poem, come see me—the earlier the better.

Academic Integrity
You will engage closely with the work of published authors and exchange many ideas collaboratively with other students. Still, all writing you submit for this course is assumed to be your own. If you are concerned that what you write might owe more than inspiration to another source, acknowledge that debt (we poets often use a note like, After Ovid). Willfully presenting the work of others as your own is a serious issue for which the College has penalties.

Accommodation
Students with disabilities who believe that they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact Deborah Braden, Educational Access Coordinator (Dodge House, x3791, dbraden@warren-wilson.edu), as soon as possible to ensure that appropriate accommodations can be implemented in a timely fashion.