Alison Barnes
English 106-05
MWF 1-1:50 McIver 228
Office: 136A McIver Mailbox: 133 McIver
Office Hours: MW 2-3:30
email: albarne2@uncg.edu
Fall 2001

The aim of this course is to provide you with ways of reading and understanding poetry. You will read every poem in this class many times to discover how the arrangement of words gives shape to human experience and the imagination. As you build on your ability to understand how the words in a poem are arranged, you will learn to recognize elements of drama and pattern. You will explore these elements in class discussion and group work as well as in formal and informal writing. Because the arrangement of these elements is different in every poem, you will need to read with a careful eye, flexibility of mind and with an ear tuned to the music of poetry.

Helen Vendler, Poems, Poets, Poetry

Regular attendance and participation are critical to this course since there is no way to make up in-class work. After two absences each absence will reduce your grade by a letter. There is no such thing as an excused absence so plan your time carefully. Speak to me in advance if you are worried about missing a class. Anyone missing more than six classes will receive an F in the course. Arriving late to class is rude. If you arrive ten minutes late you will be marked absent. Absence is not an acceptable excuse for late papers.

Intensive reading is an integral part of this course. Assigned readings will include poems as well as writings about poems. You must complete all of the assigned reading to be successful in this course.

This is a loose-leaf notebook for your in-class and informal writing. Because I will collect much of the informal writing that you do both in and out of class, you will need to keep your writing organized in a readers notebook.

You will write three formal essays for this course. For each essay you will receive a handout that explains the assignment.

Late essays will not be accepted. Failure to turn in an essay will constitute failure of the course.

During the second half of this course, you will pair up with someone in the class to give a presentation about a poet. In addition to introducing information about your poets life, you and your partner will each present a close reading of one poem written by your poet.

You will be required to conference with me about your presentation during the second half of this course. I also encourage you to conference with me any time during my office hours or by appointment

You will spend a great deal of time in this course working in small groups. Groups will regularly present their work and ideas to the class.

You will need to attend and write about one poetry reading held on the UNCG campus this semester. You will receive a copy of the poetry reading schedule, along with further instructions for this assignment.

Poetry Daily (www.poems.com) and Web Del Sol (www.webdelsol.com) are two websites that publish poems on the web. You will need to choose a poem from one of these sights and then read this poem to the class. Further instructions about this assignment will follow.

Plagiarism will not be tolerated

Friday October 12 is the last day to drop this course without academic penalty

At the completion of this course you will be able to:

The evaluation of your work in this course will be based on your fulfillment of the class requirements as well as on the following:

40% Essays

Each essay that you write will be returned with a grade and a written comment from me. The final evaluation of your essays will be based on these grades as well as on the progress of your writing over the course of the semester.

10% Midterm Exam

10% In-class Presentation

40% Informal Writing and Class Participation

The evaluation of informal writing and class participation will be based on your willingness to challenge yourself, try new things, think in new ways and see something from a different perspective as both a reader and a writer. Class participation refers to quality, not necessarily quantity. This includes work that you do individually as well as in a group.

If at any point you are unclear about where you stand in the course it is your responsibility to conference with me so that we can discuss it.

The Writing Center is a resource where you can receive feedback on your writing. You are encouraged to use this free service when you are writing or revising a paper. The Writing Center is not limited to students who have "problems" with writing. Drop in at 101 McIver or call: 3343125 for an appointment.