Course Title: The Apprenticeship: Using Masterpiece Poems to Transform Your Poetry

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1 Course Title: The Apprenticeship: Using Masterpiece Poems to Transform Your Poetry Course Code: POET 24 W Instructor: Greg Wrenn I saw a striped snake run into the water, and he lay on the bottom, apparently without inconvenience, as long as I stayed there. It appeared to me that for a like reason men remain in their present low and primitive condition; but if they should feel the influence of the spring of springs arousing them, they would of necessity rise to a higher and more ethereal life. I had previously seen the snakes in frosty mornings in my path with portions of their bodies still numb and inflexible, waiting for the sun to thaw them. Course Summary: Henry David Thoreau, Walden What can the great master poets teach us about finding inspiration and direction for our own writing? Each week you will apprentice yourself to a different outstanding poet Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Hayden, and Shakespeare, among others. We won t just read their poems; we will seek to understand their work from the inside out. Just as a painting student might render a study of a Cézanne, or a dancer might emulate the choreography of Alvin Ailey, you will imitate, analyze, and argue with an exceptional poem each week, and compose exciting new work of your own. At first you will spend time familiarizing yourself with poetic terms and concepts (what is blank verse?) and improving your ability to analyze and evaluate poems (what makes Shakespeare s sonnets so great, if you think they are great?). For the rest of the quarter, we will be workshopping your original work and exploring various aspects of poetic craft. As you become a better reader of exceptional poems, you will become a better poet. By the end of the course, you will have a sheaf of new work, a greater appreciation for the poetic tradition, and the tools to engage the greats as teachers, foils, and inspiration. *Please see course page for full description and additional details. Grade Options and Requirements: No Grade Requested (NGR) o This is the default option. No work will be required; no credit shall be received; no proof of attendance can be provided. Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) o Score will be determined by student participation. Letter Grade (A, B, C, D, No Pass) o Written work, as assigned by the instructor, will determine a student s grade.

2 *Please Note: If you require proof that you completed a Continuing Studies course for any reason (for example, employer reimbursement), you must choose either the Letter Grade or Credit/No Credit option. Courses taken for NGR will not appear on official transcripts or grade reports. Grade Breakdown Timely Posting of Poems: 50% Timely Posting of Feedback and Discussion Posts: 50% There will be ten distinct poem assignments during the quarter. To earn full credit, you must submit to seven (7) of the workshops; in other words, you can opt out of submitting your work three (3) times. I will offer you extended feedback consisting of approximately three paragraphs on four (4) of your poems; for the others I ll offer you brief, targeted advice for improving your work. It s essential to offer at least a paragraph of constructive, heartfelt feedback for each poem in your group. Shoot for at least 150 words. We are building a supportive writing community! Workshop By Wednesday at 9:00 AM PST of each week, each student will upload a poem to the forum, though you are encouraged to do this sooner I do not comment on late work, so please be certain to submit something if you want feedback, even if your poem is very rough. In addition, I ll be moderating our discussion, posting comments on poems as they appear. A paragraph of specific feedback from you should suffice for each poem. Required Texts Poems, Poets, Poetry (Compact Third Edition) Helen Vendler ISBN-10: Tentative Zoom Schedule*: On Thursdays at 2:30 PM PST I will hold a live chat discussion session, via Zoom (a video conferencing platform), which is optional and recorded in case you cannot attend. It s an opportunity for me to answer any of your questions and to broaden our forum discussion for the week. It is our live virtual writing community, so your engaged, constructive, spirited presence is most welcome. If you can t come, you may also me questions beforehand that I can address during the Zoom session, so that you can see me answer them on the video recording. *Please note that the Zoom schedule is subject to change.

3 Tentative Weekly Outline: Week 1: Introduction / Poems as Pleasure / Poetry Workshop Robert Hayden, Those Winter Sundays Writing Assignment: Write a poem of fourteen lines about one of your parents or caregivers from childhood. The poem should attempt to visually resemble Those Winter Sundays, with approximately the same beats per line and the same stanza lengths and stanza breaks. Be sure to choose your own unifying (but not too unifying!) consonant sound, just as the consonant K sound is a melodic map for Hayden s poem. Reading Assignment: Robert Hayden, Those Winter Sundays ; Chapter 3 of Poems, Poets, Poetry (PPP; D. H. Lawrence, Snake ; Theodore Roethke, My Papa s Waltz ; Gwendolyn Brooks, We Real Cool ) Week 2: Describing Poems / Poetry Workshop Walt Whitman, A Noiseless, Patient Spider Writing Assignment: Write a binary poem (i.e. in two stanzas) of ten lines. In the first stanza, suggesting at least the germ of a story, describe an experience with an animal or plant (or mineral!) in the natural world. Be sure to use specific, vivid details drawn from the senses. In the second stanza, offer us some meditation on that living thing what does it mean to the speaker? Perhaps the speaker will partially reject the living thing as an appropriate metaphor for the self, as Whitman does in I Saw in Louisiana a Live- Oak Growing, another nature poem about loneliness. In order to practice traditional meter, please write your poem first in free verse and then as ten lines of blank verse (i.e. unrhymed iambic pentameter). Reading Assignment: Walt Whitman, A Noiseless, Patient Spider ; Chapter 4 of PPP (Walt Whitman, I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing ; Jorie Graham, San Sepulcro ; Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach ; Sherman Alexie, Evolution ) Week 3: The Play of Language / Poetry Workshop Elizabeth Alexander, Nineteen Writing Assignment: Write a free verse poem of memory in the past tense, with a strong rhythmic sense to it. An age (e.g. Ten ) should be its title, and it should contain three stanzas of eight lines, for a total of 24 lines. Use assonance, alliteration, consonance, and internal rhyme each at least once, indicating below the poem where each has been employed. Pay special attention to word connotations and ordering. Reading Assignment: Elizabeth Alexander, Nineteen ; Chapter 5 of PPP (John Donne, Holy Sonnet 14; Lorna Dee Cervantes, Poema para los Californios Muertos ; Robert

4 Browning, My Last Duchess ; Joy Harjo, Song for the Deer and Myself to Return On ) Week 4: Constructing a Self / Poetry Workshop Robert Frost, Mending Wall Writing Assignment: Choose a speaker other than yourself and write a dramatic monologue, what Vendler paradoxically calls a self-protective public speech and an unconsciously selfrevealing document in that voice. In 25 lines or less, try to create a self using the list included in the lecture. Have the speaker point out various objects in his vicinity in order to create a sense of time and space, for example. (The Duke of Ferrara does this in My Last Duchess by pointing out both the painting of the woman he had killed and the sculpture of Poseidon riding a seahorse.) Reading Assignment: Robert Frost, Mending Wall ; Chapter 6 of PPP (Adrienne Rich, Diving into the Wreck ; Victoria Chang, $4.99 All You Can Eat Sunday Brunch ; George Herbert, The Collar ; Henri Cole, Carwash ; Eduardo Corral, Monologue of a Vulture s Shadow ) Week 5: Poetry and Social Identity / Poetry Workshop Anne Carson, The Glass Essay Writing Assignment: Write a poetic response to The Glass Essay in any form. Your poem is not necessarily agreeing or disagreeing with the lyric speaker s politics or vision instead ask yourself what poem rises up in you as read and reread Carson s long meditation and think about your own social identity and how it informs your art. Reading Assignment: The Glass Essay ; Chapter 7 of PPP (Sheila Ortiz Taylor, The Way Back ; Seamus Heaney, Terminus ; Sylvia Plath, The Applicant ; Rita Dove, Wingfoot Lake ) Week 6: History and Regionality / Poetry Workshop Robert Lowell, For the Union Dead Writing Assignment: Think of some historical event or trend and have your lyric speaker engage it in some way. You could imagine your speaker in front of an historical monument, as Lowell s speaker is, or standing before an artifact, as in Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn. Or you might simply imagine your speaker experiencing that historical event (e.g. the speaker imagines their grandfather watching the first moon landing in his Montana living room) or an imaginary history event (as in Jorie Graham s What the End is For. The poem should be no longer than 30 lines. Reading Assignment: Robert Lowell, For the Union Dead ; Chapter 8 of PPP (Yusef Komunyakaa, Facing It ; Elizabeth Alexander, Praise Song for the Day ; Dionisio Martinez, History as Second Language ; Jorie Graham, What the End is For ; James Merrill, An Urban Convalescence ; John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn )

5 Week 7: The Power of Syntax / Poetry Workshop Carl Phillips, As from a Quiver of Arrows Writing Assignment: Taking As from a Quiver of Arrows as syntactical inspiration, write a poem of no more than 40 lines consisting solely of questions. That is the only restriction. Think especially about whom you are addressing and why. Reading Assignment: Carl Phillips, As from a Quiver of Arrows ; Linda Gregg, There She Is ; Frank Bidart, To My Father ; Gwendolyn Brooks, We Real Cool ; Lucie Brock- Broido, Carrowmore ; William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18 Week 8: Attitudes, Values, Judgments / Poetry Workshop Lucie Brock-Broido, Jessica, from the Well Writing Assignment: Please write a free-verse dramatic monologue of no more than 50 lines and with at least two sections in the voice of a historical figure or celebrity. Reading Assignment: Mock Orange, Louise Glück; Chapter 9 of PPP (William Shakespeare, Sonnet 60; William Blake, The Tyger ; Eavan Boland, The Room in Which My First Child Slept ; Allen Ginsberg, Sunflower Sutra ) Week 9: The Poem as Life / Poetry Workshop Shakespeare, Sonnet 60 Writing Assignment: Please write a sonnet (14 lines) in any form that has at least two figurative takes on an abstract concept no restrictions other than that. Reading Assignment: Daddy, Sylvia Plath; Chapter 1 of PPP (Julia Alvarez, Homecoming ; Emily Dickinson, A narrow Fellow in the Grass ; John Keats, When I have fears that I may cease to be ; Walt Whitman, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry ) Week 10: The Poem as Arranged Life / Poetry Workshop Elizabeth Bishop, One Art Writing Assignment: Please write a villanelle no restrictions other than that. Reading Assignment: One Art, Elizabeth Bishop; Chapter 2 of PPP (John Donne, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning ; George Herbert, Love (III) ; Margaret Atwood, Footnote to the Amnesty Report on Torture ; Marilyn Nelson, Live Jazz, Franklin Park Zoo )

LT251: Poetry and Poetics

LT251: Poetry and Poetics Foundational Module: Poetry and Poetics Spring Term 2016 (8 ECTS credits) Instructor: James Harker Location: P98 Seminar Room 1 Wednesdays 13:30-15:00, Fridays 9:00-10:30 j.harker@berlin.bard.edu