ENGLISH 460  4:10-5:35, TTH, Franz 038       Fall 2009    U. of Portland      Dr.  Herman Asarnow

Office: BC 235       TELEPHONES: Office 503-943-7244;   Home: 503-244-5854

Office Hours:  TTH--12:30-2:30;  also by appointment. 

Internet (e-mail) address: asarnow@up.edu Web page: http://faculty.up.edu/asarnow/(has link to our class website)

 

Contemporary American Poetry

TEXTS:

 

Required:

 

A. Poulin, Jr. and Michael Waters, ed. Contemporary American Poetry, 8th edition (2006) Houghton Mifflin, ISBN: 9780618527854   

A.E. Stallings, Hapax, TriQuarterly Books, 2006, ISBN: 0810151715

Li-Young Lee, Behind My Eyes, Norton (2009), ISBN: 9780393334814

Chase Twichell, Snow Watcher, Norton (1998), ISBN: 9780865380936

Rita Dove, Thomas and Beulah, Carnegie Mellon Press (1986), ISBN: 9780887480218

Louise Glück, The Seven Ages, Ecco Press (2002) , ISBN: 9780060933494

Andrew Hudgins, After the Lost War, Houghton Mifflin (1986), ISBN: 9780395457139

Philip Levine, The Simple Truth, Knopf (1996), ISBN: 9780679765844

Mary Oliver, White Pine, Harcourt Brace (1994), ISBN: 9780156001205

C.K. Williams, The Singing, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (2004), ISBN: 9780374529505

 

Not Required, but available in the library or at Powell’s if you need to 'brush up' on the elements of poetry:

 

Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook, Harcourt Brace

 

Plus theoretical/critical readings on Electronic Reserve, available online from UP’s library, including pieces by T.S. Eliot, Ron Baughman, Albert Gelpi, R.S. Gwynn, Denise Levertov, Philip Levine, Jim Longenbach, Amy Lowell, Carole Muske, Frank O’Hara, Alicia Ostriker, Ira Sadoff, and David Yezzi. (See attached Reserve Reading List.) Some of these readings will be required, some optional.

             

PURPOSE OF THE COURSE

 

Above all, my goal is to have a diverse group of able students come to see the value of the poetry of our moment: how it powerfully focuses us on key existential issues of our time, and how it provides formal, literary pleasures. I have chosen books by a wide range of poets—diverse in ethnicity, gender, race, age,  religion, and, above all, poetical styles—so that we will be able to read a broad spectrum of recent poetry, though the list is, of course, not exhaustive.  Thus the class will survey contemporary American poetry, both lyric and narrative, and examine our diverse voices, languages, and styles—as well as our common post-modern concerns. We will see how skilled poets of our era are confronting the big issues now at stake.  To establish a context for our reading of 9 recent books of poetry,. we will spend our first 3 weeks reading poetry from our anthology by the immediate past generation of American poets and also seminal critical essays.  Then we’ll dive into our individual collections of poems. Class members will thus have the opportunity to read, discuss, write about, and present their ideas about a wide range of contemporary poetry—and to read and hear the ideas of others.

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES In English 460,  you should expect to:

 

  • develop a sense of the range and diversity of contemporary American poetic styles and concerns
  • develop a basic understanding of how contemporary critics & scholars make sense of contemporary poets and “schools” or “movements” of poets
  • practice and improve your ability to speak about poetry using common literary terminology
  • increase your familiarity with library and online literary research tools
  • increase the fluency of your writing about poetry and ideas through practice by writing several short, but penetrating essays and one longer analysis/research essay
  • gain experience (and, hopefully, more confidence) in presenting your ideas and the fruits of your research in class presentations
  • develop an appreciation for the pleasure of contemporary American poetry, and its value

 

DEVELOPMENT You will work to develop these skills through:

 

  • careful completion of reading assignments
  • participation in class discussions
  • completion of the short response/analysis writing assignments
  • completion of initial research on one of our poets and presentation of that research as we kick off our study of that poet’s book
  • completion of research about and analysis of a book (or books) of contemporary poetry, the writing of a 12 page paper about it or them
  • attending a poetry readings & a lecture on poetry, plus dinner with visiting poet Chase Twichell

 

WHAT WE WILL DO IN CLASS

 

Initially, we will read selections of poems from our anthology, plus critical articles on contemporary poetry, so class will at first consist of discussing the gist of the articles, and then applying their ideas to the poets of the 1950s-1970s, the immediate forebears to the generation of poets that we’ll be reading for most of the term. (Be prepared for a lot of reading!)  Then we will spend a week each on books by 9 poets, starting with a short presentation by class members about the poet and the literary and cultural context of his or her work, and then continuing with discussion of 1/2 of the book per class period.  Since most of these books are virtually brand new, we won’t rely on “expert” opinions about them, but explore, question, and probe them—and our reactions to them—within the context of our own experiences and of ideas about contemporary American poetry we have read early in the course. What the poet Chase Twichell (who will be visiting UP and our class this term!) wrote about poetry—“Poetry isn’t window cleaning./It breaks the glass”— holds for how we shall read these contemporary poets. We’ll read them according to conventional wisdom, and also measure them against our own experience as people and readers.   In class, we will certainly laugh, gasp, get chills up our spines, and sometimes roll our eyes, as we become a community of readers responding to poetry of our own era by our own poets, people trying to write, as Ezra Pound said of poetry, “news that stays news.”

 

WRITTEN & ORAL WORK; ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

 

1.  Six short, 2-3 page (12 font, double-spaced), response/analysis papers, one each on 6 of the 9 books of poetry we’ll read.  I’ll pass out an instruction sheet for this assignment.  Basically, each paper will try to characterize the kind of poem (both form/style and subject) the poet writes, focusing on 1-3 of the poems to illustrate its points. NOTE: Two of these papers may be poems in imitation of/after the manner of the poetry of the poet being read—preceded by a 2 page, prose, “scholarly” analysis of the poem that follows, explaining in detail the ways in which it is like the poetry of the poet being studied.

 

2. One 15-minute group oral ‘kick off report” to start our discussion of one of the 9 books of poetry.  Each student will present a brief biography of the poet, a brief tour of the poet’s thematic interests (as gleaned from criticism and reviews of his or her work, as well as from reading the book in question and scanning other books by the poet), a summary of the forms, diction, imagery, and figurative language the poet characteristically uses—with brief examples (again, taken mostly from what others have written about him or her), and, finally, a short mention of the other poets the poet may be grouped with, or spoken about with in the same breath, or the “school” or “movement” the poet may be associated with. As part of their Kick-Off Report, compose and distribute a helpful handout for the class.

 

3.  One longer (approximately 10-12 page) analysis/research paper.  This paper will analyze 1 of our 9 poetry collections in depth, finding and tying together patterns and motifs of language, imagery, structure, and/or subjects—and exploring in some depth the poet’s themes in this book.  I would expect to see fairly thorough analysis of 2-4 of the poems in the book, plus reference to and brief examples from a good number of the other poems.  Reference to essays from our reserve reading on contemporary poetry and poetics are necessary to add depth to your paper.  The paper can also include the presentation and analysis of poems from other books by the same poet, to give depth and perspective to its reading of the book the paper is focusing on.  The paper will naturally entail a research component, especially as you consider in what context you are seeing the poet (part of a “school of poetry,” or a social context, or an historical moment, etc.) .  You won’t find a great deal written about most of these poets’ work, especially about these recent books, except for reviews—though some of those will be helpful. You might also find interviews with your poet.   So you will likely need to read about (and from) their other books (if any), and about contemporary poetry in general. 

 

4.    One 15-20 minute presentation of your analysis/research paper. I’ll hand out an instruction sheet for this assignment.  Surely you will consider making handouts, overheads, etc., as needed to make your 15 minutes of (scholarly) fame rich and rewarding for your fellow seminar members.  

 

E-MAIL & ATTENDANCE: You are required  to check your UP e-mail address daily. I often make important announcements this way.   Class attendance is mandatory. I also expect you to be at the poetry reading by Chase Twichell (Friday, 11/5, 7:30 p.m.) and the lecture by John Felstiner (Tuesday, 10/6, 7:30 p.m.)—unless you have another class that meets at that time. You must let me know.  Absences for illness, participation in official university extra-curricular activities and serious familial obligations may be excused if you notify me in advance.  Missing any part of class for a less imperative university appointment (advising, etc.) is unexcused.  Other missed classes will reduce your attendance/participation grade significantly.  If you miss class, it is your responsi­bility to learn the nature of any assignment you might miss.

 

Intellectual/Academic Integrity:  Note:  For any assignment, all borrowed ideas as well as borrowed words must be cited using the MLA format for the kind of source being cited.  This includes borrowings from the Web.  No exceptions.

 

PLAGIARISM AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:  I expect that all of your assignments for this course will contain original work by you written for this class.  The course does not require you to use outside sources, and I strongly suggest that you do not do so.  However, if you do, it is your responsibility to cite these sources properly. Plagiarism, defined as representing another person’s language, ideas, or thoughts as your own, is a serious offense. When you put someone’s ideas in your own words, or copy them directly (including material from the web, a friend’s paper, anything you yourself have not written), you must cite or quote them. Students who commit plagiarism will be reported to the appropriate University authority. Believe me, you don’t want this to happen! All borrowed ideas and words must be cited in your papers (using the MLA—Modern Language Association—format available to you in The Pocket Wadsworth Handbook. No exceptions.  Here is the University of Portland’s Code of Academic Integrity:

 

Academic integrity is openness and honesty in all scholarly endeavors. The University of Portland is a scholarly community dedicated to the discovery, investigation, and dissemination of truth, and to the development of the whole person.  Membership in this community is a privilege, requiring each person to practice academic integrity at its highest level, while expecting and promoting the same in others.  Breaches of academic integrity will not be tolerated and will be addressed by the community with all due gravity.

Turnitin.com:  A requirement for all three papers for this class:

 

For you to receive credit for your work, all six short papers and the one long paper written for this course must be submitted by the due date to Turnitin.com, using the following instructions.  This site checks papers for signs of plagiarism.  (See UP’s statement on plagiarism, above, as well as pages 177-181 of The Pocket Wadsworth Handbook, which has useful instruction on how to avoid plagiarism.)  If you do not have a Turnitin “user profile” yet, please go to www.up.edu/turnitin and click on the link to directions for students for using Turnitin. (There are links to this page on the English Department website and on the Writing Center website, as well as our class’s own webpage .)   Here is the information you will need to login at www.turnitin.com  and then be able to submit papers for each of our assignments: English 460 Contemporary American Poetry    Class ID: see print syllabus  Enrollment Password: see print syllabus .

 

DISABILITIES STATEMENT: If you have a disability and require an accommodation to fully participate in this class, contact the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSWD), located in the University Health Center (503-943-7134), as soon as possible. If you have an OSWD Accommodation Plan, you should make an appointment to meet with me to discuss your accommodations.  Also, you should meet with me if you wish to discuss emergency medical information or special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated.

 

 

GRADING:  All assignments must be completed in order to pass the class.

 

            Short papers (10% each)...........60%

            Kick-Off Report.......................  5%

            Longer paper & presentation….25%

            Participation............................. 10%

                                                             100%

 

Paper Evaluation Standards—English Department, University of Portland

 

A:        The A paper is excellent.  It expresses a significant idea in a superior manner.  Its thesis is clear, consistent and well-argued, and the evidence, well-analyzed, strongly supports the thesis.  The organization is logical, and the writing is inventive, precise and grammatically sound.  From its compelling introduction to its provocative conclusion, the paper fully considers and engages the reader in the expression of its argument.

 

B:         The B paper is good.  It expresses a sound idea in a functional manner.  Its thesis is generally relevant, clear, and well-supported, though evidence and analysis of that evidence may be lacking in places.  The paper is logically organized, although it may lack coherence in structure.  Stylistically and mechanically, the writing is sound but may contain some minor distractions or errors.

 

C:         The C paper is fair.  It expresses a merely adequate idea in an ordinary manner.  Its thesis is vague or undeveloped, and it frequently contains lapses in reason or support.  Often the expression of the idea is weak because the writer has not completely thought through the argument, and the paper’s structure, which is typically confused and lacking clear transitions, reflects this weakness.  The writing may contain major grammatical and stylistic problems.

 

D:        The D paper is poor.  It expresses an unclear point in a weak manner.  It may fail to address the assignment.  Its thesis is extremely vague, unclear, or illogical; it suffers from major problems in organization, and its evidence, if present, does not clearly connect to the thesis.  The writing is error-ridden and demonstrates little consciousness of audience.

 

F:         The F paper is unintelligible.  It contains no point or its point is plagiarized.

 

 

SYLLABUS: English 460, Contemporary American Poetry—Herman Asarnow

 

Week 1     September 1-3

T—Introduction to the class, and to each other.  Read Carol Muske, “What is a Poem?” (on reserve, online, and sent to you ahead of time). Take notes. Bring anthology every day for first 3 weeks.

TH—Bring the anthology to class. Ronald Baughman, “A Field Guide to Recent Schools of American Poetry,” on reserve. Take notes. Bring the anthology to class.  Also read: T.S. Eliot, “Tradition & the Individual Talent,” on reserve.

 

Week 2     September 8-10

T— Read packet of short pieces on Modernism/Post Modernism/New Criticism.  (Suggested, but not required, on reserve, Gelpi, “The Genealogy of Postmodernism,” first 8 pages, plus Glossary.)  Also read in anthology, these “Academic poets”: Bishop, p. 41, ff., “The Fish,” “In the Waiting Room,” “One Art”; Wilbur, 553, ff., “Love Calls Us...” “The Writer,” “The Lilacs” and “Mayflies”; Merrill, 333ff., “Laboratory Poem,” “Charles on Fire,” and “Pearl” (on xerox).  (There are NOTES on each poet at the back of our anthology.) “Confessional Poets”—read in anthology: Lowell, 317ff, “Skunk Hour,” “Eye and Tooth,” “For the Union Dead”; Sexton, 431, ff. “Her Kind,” “With Mercy for the Greedy,” and “Man and Wife” and “In Celebration of My Uterus”; also read David Yezzi’s short article on Confessional Poetry, on reserve.

TH—Confessional Poetry, continued: Berryman, 33 ff., “Filling her compact & delicious body,” “Life, friends, is boring,” “There sat down” and “172.” And Alicia Ostriker, “Beyond Confession...” also on reserve.  Read Imagism handout.  “Black Mountain poets”: Creeley, 89ff, “I Know a Man,” “ The Flower,” “The Language,” “Something,” “The Warning,”;  Levertov, 299 ff,  “The Poem Unwritten,” “Our Bodies,”  “The Mutes,” “Wedding Ring” “Life at War.” Also read:  Amy Lowell, “On imagism,” on reserve; also Levertov, “Some Notes on Organic Form”

 

Week 3  September 15-17

T—“Deep Imagists”—Read Bly, 49ff., “An Empty Place,” “Snowbanks...” “The Resemblance...” “Driving to Town...”; James Wright, 585 ff., “Autumn Begins...” “Lying in a Hammock...” “The Journey,” “A Blessing”; Hall, 183ff., “Maple Syrup,” “When the Young Husband,” “Ardor,” “Digging”; Kinnell, 248 ff,”  “The Bear,” “The Fundamental Project of Technology.” “New York School”: Ashbery, (on xerox, to be distributed); O’Hara, 365 ff., “Why I Am Not A Painter,” “Poem,” “Personal Poem,” “Poem,” and “The Day Lady Died.”  L-A-N-G-U-A-G-E poetry: sampler to be distributed. Read, on reserve: O’Hara, Frank.  “Personism: A Manifesto.”

TH— “The Beats”: Ginsburg, 145 ff., “from Howl” and “America”; Snyder, 473, ff. “’One should not talk...’” “The Bath,” “Axe Handles.”  African-American, Ethnic, Gendered poetry: Brooks, 57-63, all poems; Clifton, “at the cemetery…”, 73, “homage to my hips,” 75; “wishes for sons,” 76; “poem to my uterus,” 76;  Lee, “Persimmons,” 292; Komunyakaa, “Work,” 266, and “Tu Do Street,” 268.  Also read, on reserve, “A Field Guide to the Poetics of the ‘90s,” by R.S. Gwynn.     

 

Week 4   September 22-24  

T—Mary Oliver, White Pine; also read Kathryn VanSpanckeren’s “Contemporary American Poetry,” on reserve.

TH— Mary Oliver, White Pine

 

Week 5  September 29-October 1                                                                                                                          

T—Rita Dove, Thomas and Beulah

TH— Rita Dove, Thomas and Beulah

 

Week 6  Oct. 6-8  Critic/Translator/Biographer John Felstiner, Tues. 7:30 p.m., Weds, Oct. 7, 3:45 p.m.

 

T-- Levine, The Simple Truth.  Also read: Levine, “The Poet in New York in Detroit” on reserve. Optional: check out the interview with Levine, on reserve. Handout on syllabics.

TH— Levine, The Simple Truth

 

Week 7  October 13-15                                                                                                                                                    

                     

T— Andrew Hudgins, After the Lost War .

                                                                                                                                           

TH— Andrew Hudgins, After the Lost War 

                                                                               

Week 8  October 20-22  Fall Break!!                    

 

 

Week 9     October 27-29 Sign up for Longer Papers

T—Chase Twichell, The Snow Watcher . 

TH— Chase Twichell, The Snow Watcher   

 

Week 10  November 3-5    Poet Chase Twichell reads at UP, Thurs., Nov. 5th, 7: 30 p.m., BC 163.

T—A.E. Stallings, Hapax   Also read, on reserve: Sadoff, Ira.  “Neo-Formalism: A     

Dangerous Nostalgia.”

TH—Poet Chase Twichell attends class for a Q&A about her work, and about poetry.

 

Week 11 November 10-12                                                                                               

T— A.E. Stallings, Hapax

TH—Li-Young Lee, Behind My Eyes  

 

Week 12  November 17-19

T— Li-Young Lee, Behind My Eyes 

TH— C.K. Williams, The Singing (Be sure to watch the DVD of his reading from this book at UP!) 

 

Week 13  November 24-26 

T— C.K. Williams, The Singing

TH—Thanksgiving!  Feast, play, rest.

                                                                                   

Week 14   December 1-3                                

T— Glück, The Seven Ages

TH— Glück, The Seven Ages  (One early final project presentation today.)

 

Week 15  December 8-10  Longer Analysis/Research papers Due: Tuesday, December 8th.

M— Final project presentations.

TH— Final project presentations. 

 

No Final Exam.                                                                                                                               

 

No Final Exam in this Class—Anyone who wishes to meet with me during the exam period should let me know ahead of time so that I might be available for him or her.