English 558-01

G. McDonald

Fall 2001

August 20 Introduction to the course

22 Practice in reading poetry: as assigned

27 Practice in reading poetry: as assigned

29 Practice in reading poetry: as assigned

September 3 Labor Day Holiday

5 Looking back: Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson

10 Hart Crane

12 William Carlos Williams

17 Marianne Moore

19 Theodore Roethke

24 Charles Olson

26 Ezra Pound

October 1 T. S. Eliot

3 T. S. Eliot

8 Fall Break

10 Robert Frost

15 No class: instructor at conference

17 Robert Frost

22 Langston Hughes

24 E. A. Robinson

29 Wallace Stevens

31 Allen Ginsberg

November 5 Genevieve Taggard

7 Paul Laurence Dunbar and Claude McKay

12 Gwendolyn Brooks

14 Charles Reznikoff

19 John Berryman

21 Thanksgiving Holiday

26 Robert Lowell

28 Elizabeth Bishop

December 3 Sylvia Plath

5 Adrienne Rich

10 Final class: review

There will be a take-home final examination.

STUDENT LEARNING GOALS: At the completion of this course, all students will be able to

1. identify and understand varied characteristics of poetry
2. apply techniques of literary analysis to poems
3. use literary study to develop skills in careful reading and clear writing
4. demonstrate understanding of the diverse social and historical contexts in which literary texts have been written and interpreted

In addition, graduate students in the M. A., M. F. A., and Ph. D. programs will practice research methods for the critical study of poetry and will be familiar with literary theories relevant to the study of 20^th-century American poetry.

COURSE TEXT: Anthology of Modern American Poetry, ed. Cary Nelson. Oxford UP, 2000.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: For each assignment, students are to read all poems in the text by a given author and will be asked to take special care in preparing specific poems as assigned.

Undergraduate students will write two 5-page essays: the first will be a traditional explication; the second, a study of the historical context of a poets writings. Graduate students will present a 5-page prospectus of an article-length essay by midterm. After consultation with the instructor, the student will then complete the essay, which will range between 15-20 pages.

The graduate student essays will be due on the final day of class. Graduate students will also be asked to make brief oral reports on focused topics as assigned. All students in the course will write a take-home final examination.

BASIS FOR GRADES: Undergraduates: 30% for each essay; 20% for the final exam; 20% for attendance and preparedness for class discussion.

Graduate students: Final essay 30%; final examination 30%; oral reports as assigned 20%;

20% for attendance and preparedness for class discussion.

OFFICE HOURS and Other Information: My office is McIver 124, and my regular office hour will be from 1-2 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays; other times, by appointment. My office phone number (with a message machine) is 334-5650, and my e-mail address is A list of useful sites for the study of modernism and poetry may be found on my page within the English Department website. Critical commentary to accompany the Oxford anthology is at