Poetry Syllabus April 5 -16
Poetry Writing Workshop
Jane Belton
Syllabus April 2010
Monday April 5
In Class: Exercise 1 due. Share. Discuss choices made: details, language, form, approach. Review class procedures.
Assignment: Read and annotate the assigned poems: Carolyn Forché’s “Reunion”, “Memory of Elena”, Charles Simic’s “Prodigy”, and Li-Young Lee’s “The Hour and What is Dead”.
Tuesday April 6
In Class: Discuss poems: Accessing memory, working from specificity to create larger meaning; how images build meaning; structures: circular, linear, etc. Begin a glossary of terms for discussing poetry. View short clips of Li Young Lee, if time permits.
Assignment: Read and annotate Rita Dove’s “Adolescence I – III”.
Wednesday April 7
In Class: Discuss Dove’s “Adolescence I-III”. View excerpt of Charlie Rose interview with Rita Dove.
Exercise 2: Write your own poem titled “Adolescence” (7 – 12 lines long)
Assignment: Finish Exercise 2 and complete Exercise 3: “5 Easy Pieces”: Think of a person who is important or significant to you on some level. Jot down images, sensory details, interactions, and places that come to mind and are most vivid for you in association with this person. Inspired by this initial work, write a poem about this person using the following structure: 1) Describe the person’s hands. 2) Describe something he/she is doing with his/her hands. 3) Use a metaphor to say something about the place/setting. 4) Mention what you would want to ask this person (or what you do, in fact, ask). 5) The person looks up or toward you, sees you there, gives an answer that suggests he or she only understands part of what you asked. The main goal of this exercise is to try to create a clear picture or story through specific fragments and details. Feel free to play with or add to the provided structure to make it your own. You will turn in Exercises 2 & 3 on Friday.
Thursday April 8 – No Class
Friday April 9
In Class: Exercises 2 and 3 due. Read and discuss Billy Collins’ “The Names”. Discuss form, patterns, specificity, and emotion.
Assignment: Work on initial revisions of exercises 1-3 according to discussions this week. For Monday, bring in 9 copies of the poem (exercises 1, 2, or 3) you would like to workshop.
Monday 4/12
In Class: Workshop Day 1. Go over workshop guidelines and tools for responding.
Assignment: Read remaining student poems to be workshopped. Work on revising your workshopped poem based on the feedback you received.
Tuesday 4/13
In Class: 10 minutes: Read several haiku; discuss juxtapositions to create meaning/texture. 40 minutes: Workshop Day 2
Assignment: Work on revising your workshopped poem based on the feedback you received and today’s discussion. Complete Focused freewrite # 2: Select 1-2 poems in the collection of poetry you have chosen as outside reading for the class. What techniques do you see the poet using in the poem(s)? How are they effective (or not) in your opinion? How do these approaches fit in with or aspects of poetry writing we have discussed in class thus far? What ideas and strategies do you see emerging in their work that you’d like to emulate or experiment with in your own poetry? Please refer to specific textual evidence (quote specific moments in the poem) in your response. Use correct parenthetical citation when you quote: eg. “On the table, two fragile/glasses of black wine” (“Reunion” lines 5-6). Please indicate the title of the poem(s) (placed in quotation marks) and the name of the poet at the top of the freewrite.
Wednesday 4/14
In Class: Focused freewrite 2 due. Workshop Day 3
Assignment: Work on revising your workshopped poem based on the feedback you received.
Read and annotate Elizabeth Bishop’s “Sestina” and Alberto Rios’s “Nani”. Select a poem or moment(s) in one of the poems that speaks to you on some level. In a 1-2 page focused freewrite (Focused freewrite # 3), respond to that moment: What pulled you in or intrigued you most? What are the moments of “luminosity,” as Linda Gregg calls it in her essay “The Art of Finding”? What are the details that “have a special energy and vibrancy”? What aspects of form, technique, or style are most interesting to you? Why?
Thursday 4/15 – No Class
Friday 4/16 – No School, Professional Day