SPRING 2002 G. MCDONALD

ENGLISH 358

MODERN POETRY

JANUARY

15 Introduction to the course

17-24 Practice in reading poetry (poems assigned daily)

29 Whitman, Song of Myself, secs. 1-14; Ginsberg AHowl@

31 Dickinson, all poems; H. D.(Hilda Doolittle), all poems

FEBRUARY

5 Yeats, pp. 69-76

7 Yeats, pp. 77-84

12 Yeats, pp. 86-95

14 Pound, pp. 216-18

19 Pound, Cantos I and LXXXI (see hypertext on web)

21 TEST I

26 Eliot, The Waste Land

28 Eliot, The Waste Land

MARCH

5 Eliot, ALittle Gidding@

7 Frost, pp. 122-31

EXPLICATION ASSIGNMENT DUE.

12,14, 19 SPRING BREAK AND INSTRUCTOR TO CONFERENCE

21 Frost, pp. 132-40

26 Stevens, ASunday Morning,@ AThe Snow Man,@ AThe Man on the Dump@

28 Stevens, AOf Modern Poetry,@ AThe Plain Sense of Things@

Williams, ASpring and All,@ AThe Red Wheelbarrow,@ AThis is Just to Say,@

ABurning the Christmas Greens@

APRIL

2 Cullen, all poems; Hughes, all poems

4 TEST II

9 VISITING LECTURER T.B.A.

11 Moore, AThe Fish,@ AThe Pangolin@; Bishop, AThe Fish,@ AThe Armadillo@

FORMAL ESSAY DUE.

16 Lowell, ASkunk Hour,@ AFor the Union Dead@

18 Auden, pp. 409-15

23 Auden, pp. 416-26

25 Larkin, all poems

30 Rich, all poems

TEST III ESSAY QUESTION DISTRIBUTED

MAY

2 FINAL CLASS: REVIEW

REVISION OF ESSAY DUE

7 TEST III ESSAYS DUE TO INSTRUCTOR BY NO LATER THAN NOON

(PUT EITHER IN MY DEPT. MAILBOX OR UNDER MY OFFICE DOOR).

TEXT: Modern Poems: A Norton Introduction. Eds. Richard Ellmann and Robert O=Clair

OFFICE HOURS: My office is McIver 124, phone 334-5650. My e-mail address is g_mcdona@uncg.edu. I will keep regular office hours from 3:30-4:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am also happy to see you by appointment.

STUDENT LEARNING GOALS:

$ Identify and understand elements of poetry

$ Apply techniques of literary analysis to texts

$ Use literary study to develop skills in careful reading and clear writing

$ Demonstrate understanding of the diverse social and historical contexts in which

modern Anglo-American poems have been written and interpreted

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: This is a writing-intensive course. Students will write short responses as assigned, complete one explication assignment, and write one formal essay of four to five pages. After receiving commentary on the essay, you will revise it. In addition, there will be three in-class tests, at least part of which will be in essay-form. I expect and value regular attendance and participation and therefore reserve the right to drop a student from class if he or she is frequently absent.

BASIS FOR GRADES: Explication, essay, and revision 45%. Tests 45%.

Attendance and participation 10%.

POLICIES:

$ Late work is strongly discouraged. See me in advance if you have a serious problem meeting a deadline. My normal procedure is to mark an assignment down 1/3 grade when it is late and even more if it is outrageously late.

$ Violations of the Honor Code are of course not tolerated. If you do not know what plagiarism is, read about it today in the Student Handbook. I will treat any form of cheating seriously, at minimum assigning a grade of AF@ for the work, and reserving the right to refer the case to the Honor Board for disciplinary action.

$ Please do not disrupt class by being late. I will close the door once class has begun.