ENG 344:  Romantic Poetry and Poetics

Speaking Intensive

 

Dr. Jennifer Keith

MCVR 322 TR 2:00-3:15

Office hours:  MCVR 120, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:00-1:00 and 3:30-4:00

tel.:  334-4692; e-mail:  jmkeith@uncg.edu

 

            This speaking-intensive survey focuses on oral interpretation as fundamental to understanding and analyzing poetry.  Students will analyze how reading poems aloud reflects and guides interpretations of the poems. Assignments are constructed with the assumption that reading poetry is a performance that engages the senses and that this sensory experience enhances analytical and creative responses to the poems.

 

Learning Goals: At the completion of this course, the student will be able to

·         Identify and understand varied characteristics of literature

·         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 literary texts have been written and interpreted

 

The goals of this speaking-intensive section include

·    improving the student’s ability in oral communication

·    enhancing learning through active oral engagement

 

Texts 

The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 7th ed., vol. 2

Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Oxford UP facsimile edition)

Robert Pinsky, The Sounds of Poetry:  A Brief Guide

Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook

 

Readings

Jan.      14         Introduction

            16         “The Romantic Period” (1-23); Oliver, “Sound” (19-28); Robinson, “London’s Summer Morning” (92); Burns, “To a Mouse” (105), “A Red, Red Rose” (115); “Song:  For a’ that and a’ that” (116)

 

            21         Oliver, “More Devices of Sound” (29-34); Blake, “Introduction,” “The Lamb,” “The Blossom,” “Spring,” “The Little Black Boy” (Songs of Innocence)

            23         Oliver, “Imagery” (92-108); Blake, “The Divine Image,” “Night” (Songs of Innocence)

 

            28         Pinsky, “Accent and Duration” (11-24); Blake, “Introduction,” “Earth’s Answer,” “London” (Songs of Experience), “The Sick Rose,” “The Garden of Love”

            30         Pinsky, “Technical Terms and Vocal Realities” (51-77); Blake, “The Tyger” and “The Human Abstract” (Experience), “Holy Thursday” (both Innocence and Experience), “The Chimney Sweeper” (both Innocence and Experience)

 

Feb.      4          Pinsky, Syntax and Line” (25-49); Oliver, “The Line”(35-57); W. Wordsworth, Preface to Lyrical Ballads (238), “Simon Lee” (222), “We Are Seven” (224)

            6          Oliver, “Some Given Forms” (58-66); W. Wordsworth, “Strange fits of passion have I known” (251), “She dwelt among the untrodden ways” (252), “Nutting” (258), “The Solitary Reaper” (293)

 

            11         Pinsky, “Like and Unlike Sounds” (79-95) and “Blank Verse and Free Verse”(97-116); W. Wordsworth, “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” (235), “Ode:  Intimations of Immortality” (286)

            13         Coleridge, Biographia Literaria (474-86), “The Eolian Harp” (419), “Kubla Khan” (439)

 

            18         Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (422)

            20         no class (conference)

 

25         Byron, Manfred (588)

27         no class (conference)

 

March 4          Review

            6          Exam 1

            11         Spring Break

            13         Spring Break

           

            18         P. B. Shelley, “Mont Blanc” (720), “A Song:  Men of England” (727)

            20         P. B. Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind” (730), “To a Sky-Lark” (765), A Defence of Poetry (789)

 

            25         Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes” (834), “La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad” (845)

27         Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale” (849), “Ode on Grecian Urn” (851)

 

April     1          Keats, Ode on Melancholy” (853), “To Autumn” (872), Letters (886)

            3          Clare, “The Nightingale’s Nest” (803), “Pastoral Poetry” (805), “I Am” (808)

 

            7          SONNETS.  Selections from Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Wroth, and Milton

            10         Seward, “The Poppy” (handout); Smith, “To Night” (33), “Written in the Church-Yard at Middleton in Sussex” (34), “On Being Cautioned against . . .” (34), “The sea View”

 

15         W. Wordsworth, “Nuns fret not” (handout), “London, 1802” (297), “The world is too much with us” (297); P. B. Shelley, “Ozymandias” (725); Clare, “Mouse’s Nest” (807)

17         Keats, “Sonnet on the Sonnet” (handout), “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” (826), “Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art” (845), “Sonnet to Sleep” (847)

 

22         Review

24         Exam 2

 

May     1          Group oral presentations

            3          Group oral presentations

 

Attendance Policy: Excellent attendance and thoughtful participation are very important to your success in this course.  You are expected to attend every class meeting.  Arriving late or leaving early is strongly discouraged.  If you do arrive after the roll is called or after the attendance sheet has circulated, you are responsible for notifying me at the end of the class session. Arriving late to class or leaving early is the equivalent of 1/2 absence. Over the course of the semester, you may have two absences without any penalty or excuses required.  If during the semester you have more than two unexcused absences, your final grade will be lowered by one third of a letter grade for each additional unexcused absence. I will only excuse an absence if you have had a serious illness or problem and if you provide me with documentation for that absence. You are responsible for providing me with this official documentation. If during the entire semester you have more than six absences, excused or unexcused, I reserve the right to drop you from the course. If you have missed three classes in the first two weeks, I reserve the right to drop you from the course. 

Academic Integrity:  Familiarize yourself with the Honor Code of the university to be sure that you avoid committing plagiarism.  If at any time you have questions about plagiarism—the use of someone else’s ideas or words without indicating their source—please feel free to discuss the matter with me.

Assignments and responsibilities:  The reading assignments are to be completed before the beginning of class on the date indicated.  I expect enthusiastic and informed discussion of the material.  You are expected to have read carefully and prepared for the discussion of every work assigned.  Take notes as you read and mark significant passages.  Look up in the dictionary any word that you do not know.  As you read, consider each work’s similarities with and differences from other works already studied in the course.  Part of your preparation for class should include answering--in writing--any questions that I ask you to consider for discussion. The syllabus is subject to change:  you are responsible for keeping up with any changes to the syllabus announced in class. You will not be allowed to make-up pop quizzes or homework assignments.  There will be no make-up exams.

            Your final grade will be determined according to these percentages:

participation in class discussion and in-class exercises                  15%

exam 1                                                                                     15%

exam 2                                                                                     15%

first individual oral presentation                                                   15%

second individual oral presentation                                              20%

group oral presentation                                                               20%

 

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