Spring 2003 ENGLISH 106-03: APPROACH TO POETRY Meyers
TR
This course is an
introduction to poetry as a genre and to the work of a healthy sampling of
British and American poets. Its purpose
is to enhance your enjoyment of poetry by helping you to becaome
a sensitive and knowledgeable reader. To
that end, you will learn to
·
Identify and
understand the characteristics and elements of poetry
·
Apply
techniques of literary analysis to poems
·
Understand the
social and historical contexts in which some of these poems were written
In the writing
intensive section you will use several
different kinds of writing to enhance your understanding of the course
material. You will receive instruction
and feedback to help you develop and demonstrate your ability to write about
poetry clearly, coherently, and effectively.
Required texts: Frances Mayes, The Discovery of Poetry (2nd
edition)
A good dictionary
Requirements, Activities, and Grading:
You are responsible for studying the texts assigned
for each day, and for coming to class prepared to discuss and/or ask questions
about the material. Read each poem several times, and look up any words
whose meaning in that context is at all puzzling. Here are the components of your final grade:
Exams: First-half exam on Thursday, March 6 (10%); Second-half exam on Thursday, May 1 (10%)
Papers: 3-page analysis due Thurs., Feb. 13; Revision due Tues., Feb. 25 (15% - No late papers!).
4-5
page analysis including discussion of biographical or social-historical context
due Thurs., April 10; Optional revision due Tue., April 22 (20% - No
late papers accepted!)
Oral group
presentation:
Related to your second paper. (10%)
Response
papers:
8 short, relatively informal assignments related to reading. (Average of these = 10%)
One response paper may be turned
in one class late without
penalty. Must be
typed.
Original
poem:
Perhaps the best way to appreciate the poet’s craft is to try your hand
at it. On the day
scheduled for our final exam, Thursday, May 8, you will turn in an original poem
(with at least
3
revisions and a cover sheet analyzing your own poem) and read it to the
class. (15%)
Memorization/recitation: Sometime by April 17 you will recite to me in my office a poem of your choosing from our text (of at least sonnet length) that you have memorized. (5%)
Class participation: Your contributions to our work in class, including group exercises. (5%)
Attendance: Three absences are permitted without penalty. Save
them for emergencies, because a 4th and 5th absence
can be enough to wipe out your class participation grade, and a 6th
absence gets you dropped from the class.
(In extreme cases, and I decide what is “extreme” there could be some modification of the
penalties for extra absences.)
Adverse
weather policy: Whatever is announced as the official University
plan will apply to this class. In the
event that classes are delayed until
How to
find me:
My office is in 103 McIver Building.
I will announce regular office hours soon, and I am happy for you to
drop by or make an appointment to talk with me about the course anytime. Office phone:
334-3282; Home phone (before
The
Writing Center, located in 101 McIVer, is a place you should come to know and love when
you are writing a paper for this or any
other course. It is open
UNCG
Academic Integrity Policy applies to this
course, particularly with regard to the definitions and penalties for plagiarism on papers and cheating on exams. Don’t worry:
If you turn in only papers that YOU have written originally for this
course, if you give credit to any source (print or electronic) from which you
borrow ideas or words in a paper, and if you take exams without any
unauthorized assistance, you will be in compliance with the Policy.
Important
advice from Miss Manners: 1) Get to class on time. 2) Stay until the bitter end. 3) If you carry a pager or cell phone, TURN
IT OFF before entering the classroom!
Spring 2003 ENGLISH 106-03 BEST GUESS SCHEDULE Meyers
All reading assignments are from The Discovery of Poetry, 2nd ed.
T 1/14 Introduction
Assignment for 1/16: Read Preface (v-ix) and Chap.1 (Sources and Approaches), pp. 1-10. Also read these poems: “Chanson Innocente” (21), “Those Winter Sundays” (24), “The Concert” (26) and “If This Be Love” (31).
R 1/16 How to read a poem: Discuss guidelines and assigned poems.
Assignment for 1/21: Study these poems: “Mending Wall” (22), “Naming of Parts” (23),
“The Leap” (27), and “The Unknown Citizen” (29).
WRITE Response Paper #1: Choose two of the poems assigned for today and write a paragraph about each one, identifying the tensions or contrasts that you see in the poem.
T 1/21 Using your response papers as a starting point, we’ll discussed assigned poems.
Assignment for 1/23: Study Chap. 3 (Images), pp. 79- top of 86, plus “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” (31) and “Poem” (326).
R 1/23 Discuss images in assigned poems. Group exercises. Handout distributed on Paper #1.
Assignment for 1/28: Read poems on list to choose from for Paper #1. Also study pp. 87-89 on Literal Images.
WRITE Response #2: Your imitation of “My Mother’s Hands” (handout).
T 1/28 Share your imitations. Discuss assigned reading and Paper #1 Group exercises.
Assignment for 1/30: Study “Preludes” (92), Figurative Images (99-105), and “The Night
Is Freezing Fast” (62) and “Dulce et Decorum Est” (169).
R 1/30 Discuss similes and metaphors in assigned poems and others. Group exercises.
Assignment for 2/4: Study pp. 108-112 and “Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” (471).
WRITE Response #3: Exercise #1, p. 113 – Choose THREE from a-k to do. Also, decide which poem you’re using for Paper #1 (see list), and copy and label any literal images as well as similes, metaphors, oxymorons, and examples of personification and synaesthesia in the poem.
T 2/4 Share similes from Exercise #1. Discuss assigned reading and difference between symbols and other figures of speech.
Assignment for 2/6: Study pp. 116 – top of 120 on Symbols (and poems in those pages) and “The Road Not Taken” (14), “Acquainted with the Night” and “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” (Handout)
R 2/6 Discuss symbols in assigned poems and others. Look again at the poem for your paper to see if it contains any symbols.
Assignment for 2/11: Study Chap. 4 (The Speaker), from bottom p. 156-162 and “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” (531). Work on your paper!
T 2/11 Discuss four dramatic monologues included in assigned readings.
Assignment for 2/13: PAPER #1 DUE ON FEB. 13
R 2/13 Exchange and respond to each other’s papers. Also discuss point of view in several poems we have read.
Assignment for 2/18: Study these poems: “We real cool” (30), “For de Lawd” (184), “Protocols” (185), “Starlight” (323) and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (handout)
T 2/18 Discuss personae in assigned poems. Also, Paper #1 will be returned; discuss revision.
Assignment for 2/20: Read from Chap. 2 (Words): p. 35-middle of 36 and 49-51. Study poems included in these pages as well as “Dolor” (57), “One Perfect Rose” (289), and “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” and “A Work of Artifice” (both on handout). Work on revision of Paper #1.
R 2/20 Discuss precision and effect of word choice in assigned poems (and others).
Assignment for 2/25: REVISED PAPER #1 DUE. Turn first version back in as well.
T 2/25 Discuss selected poems from list for Paper #1 (specific poems TBA). Also, groupexercises: sample exam questions.
R 2/27 Discuss additional poems from list for Paper #1.
Assignment for ¾: WRITE Response #4: 1 full page (minimum) on a connection you see between something in your own experience and the theme of a poem we have read.
T 3-4 Catch up day (if needed); review for exam.
R 3/6 MID-TERM EXAM
Frances Phillips, “Salt” (32)
William Shakespeare, Sonnet LXXIII (63)
Elizabeth Bishop, “The Fish” (67)
Derek Wolcott, “Upstate” (75)
Ezra Pound, “The River Merchant’s Wife” (178)
Thomas Hardy, “Snow in the Suburbs” (185)
Robert Frost, “Birches” (299)
May Swenson, “Cat & the Weather” (325)
Sylvia Plath, “Blackberrying” (329)
Percy Bysse Shelley, “Ozymandias” (363)
William Shakespeare, Sonnet CXVI (376)
William Shakespeare, Sonnet XCVII (377)
Matthew Arnold, “