ARLT 101g: MODERN AMERICAN POETRY University of Southern California Dana Gioia Fall, 2011 Mondays / Wednesdays 2:00 3:20 p.m. Taper Hall 201 Overview This course provides an introduction to the pleasures and insights of modern American poetry. The course has three objectives. First, it will provide an accessible overview of twentieth-century American poetry, especially the rise of Modernism in its various forms. Second it will present the lives, works, and ideas of the major poets of the Modernist period as well as a sampling of significant contemporary writers. Finally, the course will develop your skill in reading and understanding poetry. As you will discover, that skill will develop and enhance your general mastery of language. Underlying all of these academic aims, however, is the assumption that poetry is not a remote and specialized art whose mysteries can be appreciated only by a trained intellectual elite. This course rests on the conviction that poetry is one of the irreplaceable human arts whose power and pleasure are open to any alert and intelligent person with an inclination to savor them. Instructor Information Office Hours: Tuesday: 1:30-3:00 p.m. Or by appointment Taper Hall, Room 355K Contact Information: gioia@usc.edu Teaching Assistants: Fox Henry Frazier: foxhenryfrazier.usc@gmail.com Joshua Rivkin: jrivkin@gmail.com Required Texts Mentor Book of Major American Poets. Edited by Oscar Williams and Edwin Honig. Signet, 1962. ISBN: 0-451-62791-1 Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. Volume 1. 3 rd Edition. Edited by Jahan Ramazani, Richard Ellmann, and Robert O Clair. Norton, 2003. ISBN: 0-393-97791-9 Contemporary American Poetry. Edited by R.S. Gwynn and April Lindner. Penguin Academics / Longman, 2004. ISBN: 0-321-18282-0
Assignments READING The primary work of the course will be reading and studying the poems (and occasional essays) assigned for each class. These will not represent many pages of reading, but they will need to be read carefully, and even savored. One sign of having read them carefully is to look up and learn any unfamiliar English words the poems contain. Finally, you are expected to read the biographical notes on each poet in each anthology. WRITING Since Arts and Letters courses require formal written work, there will be three short papers and one mid-length essay to deepen your appreciation of poetry, heighten your sensitivity to language, and to develop your skill at written self-expression. MEMORIZATION Each student will be expected to memorize and recite (publicly or privately) at least 30 lines of poetry by the assigned authors. Public recitation will earn you bonus points (see Grading below). Your first memorized poem or poems must be done (and will be tested) by the midterm exam. The rest will be tested in the final exam. To set a proper example, the graduate teaching assistants will also memorize and recite their poems. Exams There will a brief mid-term exam and a longer final examination. The exams will mostly test your familiarity with the readings. The exam dates are indicated on the schedule (October 12 and December 9). Do not miss them. Writing Assignments 1. Response Essay #1 (2-3 pages). Due in class September 19. Write a short essay that expresses your personal reactions to any poem by Robert Frost or E. A. Robinson. Feel free to state why you like or dislike the work, but talk specifically about what aspects of the poem affect you most deeply, and then try to understand why you react to them as you do. Refer to specific lines, images, situations, or ideas in the poem. A good response essay will require you to be candid about your own taste and values as well as be attentive to the poem. You don t need to say everything about the poem or your reaction to it. You only need to explain your central response. Your short paper should be well written and clearly argued. Don t gush or meander. Proofread and spell-check your essay before submitting it. 2. Response Essay #2 (2-3 pages). Due in class October 26. Write a short response essay about any poem by H. D., Wallace Stevens, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, or Robinson Jeffers.
3. Explication Essay (4-8 pages). Due in class November 16. Choose any short poem from our reading list and write an explication of its meaning. Analyze it line by line to demonstrate how the author has created its total effect for the reader. Don t simply paraphrase the meaning though you will need to do some paraphrasing but examine and comment on the particular details of imagery, tone, sound, diction, and contents that help shape its meaning. Remember to: Start with the poem s first line and analyze it to the end. Read it closely with attention to the poem s details. Show how each part of the poem contributes to the meaning of the whole. 4. Response Essay #4: A Favorite Contemporary Poet (2-3 pages). Due in class November 30. Read through the Gwynn / Linder Contemporary American Poetry anthology and find a poet whose work you enjoy. Write a short response paper exploring why you respond to this author. Cite specific poems and passages in your essay. You can choose any poet in the book. You are not limited only to the poets assigned in class, but can select any author in the book. Grading Response Essays 30% (10% each) Explication Essay 20% Mid-Term Examination* 20% Final Examination* 30% 100% *Both exams will require you to write out your memorized poem(s). Bonus Points If you recite your poem or poems in class (with accuracy) you will raise your total grade by 5%. Grading Scale 90 100% A 80 89% B 70 79% C 65 69% D Below 65% F
Schedule of Assignments (Specific Assignments to come) August 24: August 29: August 31: September 5: September 7: September 12: September 14: September 19: September 21: September 26: September 28: October 3: October 5: October 10: October 12: October 17: October 19: October 24: October 26: October 31: November 2: November 7: November 9: Introduction: What Is Poetry? How to Experience Poetry / How to Analyze a Poem Edwin Arlington Robinson Labor Day Holiday Edwin Arlington Robinson and Stephen Crane Robert Frost Robert Frost Populist Modernism: Edgar Lee Masters, Carl Sandburg, and Vachel Lindsay Imagism: Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, and H. D. (Hilda Doolittle) Ezra Pound Ezra Pound Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens William Carlos Williams Mid-Term Exam / Lorine Niedecker T. S. Eliot T. S. Eliot Marianne Moore Robinson Jeffers Robinson Jeffers Edna St. Vincent Millay E. E. Cummings Langston Hughes
November 14: November 16: November 21: November 28: November 30: December 9: What Was Modernism? Contemporary Poetry: Richard Wilbur and Donald Justice Contemporary Poetry: Allen Ginsberg, Anne Sexton, and Sylvia Plath Contemporary Poetry: T. A. s Choice Contemporary Poetry: Kay Ryan (Plus Reflections, Review, and Recitations) Final Exam (2-4 p.m)