Group Discussion Forum

The online discussion forum is a central part of this class. It gives us an opportunity to discuss more poems than we have time to get to in class, as well as to share our writing about poetry with each other.

Each group has its own forum. Every week, we'll be focusing on a particular poet in more depth. As part of this focus, each group will have a particular poem by that poet to discuss on the forum. I'll post the poem to the forum; over the course of the week, visit your group forum and respond to the poem or to your other groupmates' posts. On Thursday evening (or Friday morning, if you're feeling particularly daring), one person from the group will survey all the posts on that poem and write a 1-2 page summary of what people said. That summary will become the group's report to the class on Friday which will start off our discussion of the poet (The "summarizer" role will rotate amongst all members of the group. It's up to you to figure out in advance who will be in the hotseat for a particular week. Also note that the person who writes the summary does not need to be the person who reads it to the class.)

The group forum is also a resource for drafting your papers. There are two deadlines for each assignment; the first is the "draft due date": by or on this date, you should post your explication, personal response, poetry reading report, broadside essay or book review to the forum for feedback and comments by your groupmates. As a groupmate, you should respond to the drafts within a day or two, providing honest and helpful responses or suggestions. The writer then will have several days to make revisions to the paper. I'm doing this a) to encourage you to share your writing with others and b) to help you maintain good writing habits.

The group discussion forum (and the whole-class forum, which I discuss in the next section) will be graded informally; I'm not expecting polished prose here–it's the written equivalent of class discussion, after all. What I'm looking for is some thoughtful posts or responses from you. In a sense, thoughtful responses are more important than new posts, because that's what leads to actual discussion–a conversation, rather than a bunch of mini-essays that people post for a grade. At minimum, you'll be posting to the group forum once a week, probably more often considering the online draft workshop.

The main rule for the discussion forum is: no flaming. I have the power (and the will) to delete inappropriate posts, but it shouldn't get that far. Even if you strongly disagree with someone else (and hopefully this will happen from time to time), make your point in a civil manner. This is particularly important in the group forum, as you are, well, a group. You've got to live with each other for the semester.

Informal Writing and Class Participation

This category covers the daily writing assignments I make in class, the occasional out-of class writing, and your general level of participation in the class, as well. These are informal assignments, so I'm not expecting polished essays. Mainly, what I'm looking for is an honest and considered response to the poem or the topic you're presented with. If you don't like something, say so–but also say why. Good informal writings show me that you've read the poem and that you've given it a little bit of thought.

Whole class forums: I've divided the whole class forums into week-long chunks (which makes for faster loading times toward the end of the semester). Each week, there will no doubt be several interesting poems that we don't get a chance to discuss in class, and so I'll refer them to the discussion forum. You don't have to respond to every poem; do post or respond once a week, however. The comments I made above about the group forum, in terms of the way it will be graded and the importance of genuine responses also hold true for the whole class forum. (And note that sheer number of posts isn't a requirement; in other words, a few thoughtful and responsive posts can be worth more than a whole bunch of "Yeah, I agree with that" posts.) And as always, no flaming.

Broadside

A broadside is basically a flyer with a poem on it. In English poetry, they first originated in the Renaissance, as the printing press became a widespread technology. In essence, a broadside is a visual representation of a poem. To do this project, you'll need to pick a poem that's interesting to you--one that you think other people ought to see. It doesn't have to be one we've read for this class, even. Find some aspect of the poem that will "work" visually and design the broadside to bring it out. This could be something to do with the theme, setting, or mood of the poem. It will also serve to get the attention of the passer-by, to make her stop and read the poem. I'll bring in several examples to class--some professional, some from former students--to give you a better sense of the options you've got.

For this assignment, you should also write a short paper (1-2 pages) about why you decided to design the broadside the way you did. In other words, what effect did you want to create and how did you go about creating that effect? Turn that in on the due date, along with a copy of your broadside. Because broadsides are, by nature, a public forum for poetry, you should also make 10 copies and post them in various places around campus. Don't hide your light under a bushel! (And give me a list of the places you posted them.)

A good broadside will be visually interesting (the examples will give you a better sense of this) and appropriate to the poem. My standards of "appropriate" are pretty flexible, and will be influenced by your accompanying essay–if you make a case for it, it's cool with me.

Poem Explication

This assignment is in some ways an extension of the informal writings we're doing in class. It asks you to focus more formally, however, on the way a poem works. Select one of the poems we've read for class and write a short (2-3 pp.) paper talking about the ways the various elements of the poem add up to create its overall effect. In other words, figure out what the poem does and tell me how the poem does it.

As in the informal writings, your response can be a good place to start, but be sure to be specific about what your response is. "This poem made me sad," for instance, is not good. "This poem made me sad because I realize my own mortality in a clearer way," is more like it. Then you can go through the poem and discuss the various elements that have to do with mortality, death, and the way the poem made you realize your mortality. You can also approach the explication from a more objective position, talking more generally about the overall theme or techniques of a poem and how it manifests in the details.

The key to doing this assignment well is stating clearly what you think the main impression or idea of the poem is, and then showing through specific detail how it achieves this effect. These details include things like rhyme, rhythm, meter, word choice, imagery, and syntax. Get down to the level of individual sounds, if it's appropriate: "The harsh ‘k' sounds in the last two lines emphasize the speaker's struggle." (You might want to look at the Writing Center's handout on explications.)

Personal Response Paper

The personal response paper is an extension of some of the things we're doing in the informal writing, taken in a different direction than the explication. Where the explication asks you to be analytic, taking things apart and seeing how they work, this assignment asks you to be synthetic (no, not in terms of being an android, but in terms of synthesis, of putting things together). Take a poem that has affected you, for good or ill, and discuss how it had that effect. What aspects of your own life or values were affirmed or challenged by the poem?

This paper should be at least 2-3 pages long, though it can be longer. Your response to this poem can be as intensely personal, or not, as you like. Don't feel like your soul has to be shaken to have a personal response to a poem. (If you like Donne's "The Flea" because it makes you think of picking up a person in a bar, for instance, go with that.) Keep in mind that this paper will be shared with your group, so let your comfort level with them help guide your level of personal revelation. If you feel strongly about a poem and want to write on it, but don't want the contents of the paper made public, see me first and I'll okay it.

A good personal response paper will show clearly how the poem resonates with something in your life, or with your values. It will have specific supporting details from the poem, and reasonably specific details from your personal experience.

Poetry Reading Report

For this assignment, your mission is to find a poetry reading somewhere, anywhere, this semester and write a short (2-3 page) report on it. Give your overall impressions, supported by specific details about the event. Describe the setting (both the facts--where and when it happens--and your impressions of it: as a poetry-reading venue, Barnes and Noble is considerably different from the Skylight Exchange, and both of them are different from the Hayti Center in Durham). Describe the audience as well: what kinds of people are here to hear the poems? Describe also the poet(s) who are reading? What do they look like? What's their reading style like? Do they even read at all, or do they recite from memory (or improvise/freestyle)? Also, describe the poems: are there any recurring themes in the subject matter? Are they using traditional forms or are they more experimental?

So how do you find a poetry reading? Keep your eye out for flyers in Greenlaw. The English Department often sponsors readings, as does the Bull's Head bookshop. Campus organizations, like the Sonya Hanes Stone center, also sponsor occasional readings. The communications department also has performances of poetry most semesters. Several venues in town also sponsor occasional readings (like the Internationalist, the Skylight Exchange, Barnes and Noble). Look in the Independent or the Spectator, in the event listings--there's a section for literary readings. If you've got transportation, it might be fun to get out of town to readings in Durham in places like the Regulator, the Hayti Center, or (gasp) Duke University (heresy! heresy!) I'll bring to your attention any I hear about; if you hear about any that I don't mention, bring it up on the discussion forum or during class announcements.

A good report will give the reader a sense of what it was like to be at the reading; it will be detailed and clearly written. It will also convey what your overall impression was; in other words, you'll express an opinion about the reading. (The connections between the details and your opinion will also be clear–although you don't have to come out and say it like this, you'll basically be telling me "I thought/felt x because of y.") You've got some creative leeway in the way you organize and present your information: it could be a narrative, telling the story of your experience, or it could me more objective, describing the different aspects of the reading in turn.

Book Review

For this assignment, your mission, should you choose to accept it (and given the paper is 15% of your grade, I suspect you will) is to go to the bookstore, buy a book of poetry that's been published in the last 10 years, read it, and write a book review. Is this good poetry? Is it bad poetry? What makes it good/poor? How does it compare to the other poetry you've read? (I'll bring in some examples to the class to give you a sense of what "real life" book reviews are like.) Basically, to write a successful book review, you've got to have an opinion (even if your opinion is an ambivalent one) and provide evidence from the poems to support that opinion. Your ultimate goal is to persuade the reader of the review to buy or not buy the book.

The book can be by a poet we've read in class this semester, or it can be by someone else entirely. If you're anxious about finding a book of poetry on your own, ask me. We can talk about the poets you've liked and I can probably make a few recommendations based on that. In general, you want to stay away from "collected poems," because they tend to have a lot of poems, and you wind up reviewing the poet's entire career more than just the poems. Shoot for a single volume of poems. Anthologies can cause problems, because of the number of different poets represented, but some anthologies have themes which give the whole book a good amount of focus. So you can pick an anthology if it interests you, but be aware of the challenges. If you really want to review a book that's older than 10 years, ask me first.

Final Exam

The final exam will have a take-home portion and an in-class portion. It will be comprehensive for the semester, and will be drawn from the poems we've read, the class discussions, the discussion forums, and the web notes on the poets.