INTERMEDIATE POETRY WRITING, ENGLISH 391-01
INTERMEDIATE POETRY WRITING, ENGLISH
391-01, Spring 2012
Requirements and Policies
joy@uidaho.edu
http://www.class.uidaho.edu/joy/
Assistant Teacher: Jory
Mickelson, Brink 113,
mick5913@vandals.uidaho.edu
1. Review of poetic
techniques.
2. Reading and study of five
texts in addition to various other poems as assigned: 100 Best Loved Poems
(ed. Philip Smith, Dover), The Art of the
Lathe (B.H. Fairchild, Alice James Books), Last
Time I Saw Amelia Earhart (Gabrielle
Calvocoressi, Persea Books),
Fragments of the Head of a
Queen (Cate Marvin, Sarabande Books, Crush ( Richard
Siken, Yale University Press).
3.
One-to-two 2- 3-page craft analyses of assigned texts; demonstration of
expertise in close reading of a poem, specifically in (to quote poet and critic
John Ciardi) “how it means.”
4. The careful writing of at
least eight individual poems, most of them on assigned topics and forms. At
least three of these will be handed in to the instructors; these poems are to be
carefully revised and polished.
5. Workshops on your work
(as many poems as time allows). You will revise and polish two of your
workshopped poems to hand in for a grade.
6. Experimentation with form
and style and development of your individual voice.
7. In-class (and
out-of-class) exercises.
8. Full participation in
workshops and class discussions.
9. Required attendance:
more than four unexcused absences
will affect your grade and may cause you to fail the course. Excused
absences require documentation.
10. Required attendance at
two approved university literary events and the writing of one paragraph of
response for each reading.
11. Participation in
required conferences with instructors. Missing a conference without prior notice
will be counted as an absence.
Intermediate Poetry Writing
is a graded course. Your grade will
be based for the most part on your writing—on your judicious use of form,
diction, syntax, and line; on your revision skills; on evidence of maturity in
your use of various elements of craft. I will also factor in your ability to
analyze published as well as peer poetry in class and on paper and your ability
to communicate clearly and diplomatically during workshops.
For final grades I also factor in improvement and evidence that you have
stretched yourself as a writer using language, form, and style. Final grades in
my 391 classes usually range from C to A.
I reserve A grades for the truly outstanding, for those students who
revise substantially and carefully, who offer well-considered and thoughtfully
presented feedback, and who stretch themselves to produce excellent poems after
hard work. Both instructors will
give you comments on your performance on poems and during individual conferences
during the semester.