INGL 6058: Beyond the Anthology: Poetry and its Contexts

Fall 2007 Course Syllabus

Prof. Leonardo Flores

Offices: CH-109, CH-325
Hours: W 1:00-5:30, T & Th 1:00-5:30, or by appointment.
Phone: 832-4040, ext. 3088
Mailbox: CH-323
E-mail: flores@uprm.edu

Description

This course explores contexts that can inform the analysis, interpretation, and teaching of poetry. The contexts to be explored are the anthology, literary theories, poetic traditions (types, and forms), poetic periods and schools of poetry, types of print publication (manuscript, magazine, book, anthology), and publication in other types of media (sound and video recordings, computers and the Internet). The course will focus on poets for whom these contexts are especially significant, such as William Blake, Emily Dickinson, Gary Snyder, Stephanie Strickland, Dylan Thomas, the Def Poetry Jam poets, Linda Rodriguez, Jim Andrews, Megan Sapnar, Ingrid Ankerson, Willie Perdomo, Ursula Rucker, and many others.

Course Objectives

This course explores contexts relevant to reading, analyzing, interpreting, and teaching poetry. After completing the course, students should be able to:

• Deepen their appreciation of the critical artistry and cultural importance of poetry.

• Examine the impact of different poetic traditions, poetic schools, publication formats, and media on poetic creation and reception.

• Investigate the publication history of a poem in order to obtain relevant contexts for its analysis and interpretation.

• Research and select the contexts most relevant for appreciating and teaching a poem or group of poems.

• Integrate different contexts in their reception, analysis, interpretation, and teaching of poetry.

Evaluation

Each grade will be scored holistically with a letter grade and interpreted numerically according to the 4 point system.

• Short Essay #1: Analysis and interpretation of a poem in the context of literary theory, poetic tradition, and/or poetic school. 20%

• Short Essay #2: Analysis and interpretation of a poem in the context of its medium. 20%

• Research Paper: Researched analysis and interpretation of selected works within a book of poetry, album of recorded poetry, video recorded performance poetry, or poetry Web site. 30%

• Presentations and Assignments: 20%

• Attendance & Participation: both in class and in online discussion forums. 10%

Required Texts

• Hunt, Anthony. Genesis, Structure, and Meaning in Gary Snyder’s Mountains and Rivers Without End. Reno, NV: University of Nevada Press, 2004.
• Perdomo, Willie. Where a Nickel Costs a Dime. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996.
• Preminger, Alex and T. V. F. Brogan, et. al. eds., The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993.
• Rodriguez, Linda. Metropolitan Fantasies. Canada: CCLEH, 2001.
• Snyder, Gary. Mountains and Rivers without End. Washington DC: Counterpoint Press, 1996.
• Additional texts will be posted on course blog or made available through other venues.

Recommended Texts

• Gioia, Dana. Disappearing Ink: Poetry at the End of Print Culture. Saint Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 2004.
• Hayles, N. Katherine. Writing Machines. Cambridge and London: The MIT Press, 2002.
• Jerome Rothenberg and Steve Clay, eds. The Book of the Book. New York: Granary Books, 2000.
• Johanna Drucker. The Century of Artists’ Books. New York: Granary Books, 1997.
• Kwasny, Melissa, ed. Toward the Open Field: Poets on the Art of Poetry 1800-1950. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2004.
• McGann, Jerome. The Textual Condition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991.
• Perloff, Marjorie. Poetry On and Off the Page: Essays for Emergent Occasions, Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 1998.
• Perloff, Marjorie. Radical Artifice: Writing Poetry in the Age of Media. Chicago and Indiana: University of Chicago Press, 1991.

Attendance Policy

Attendance is mandatory for this course. Students are expected to come to class all the time and always be on time. You must provide the appropriate documentation for an absence to be considered excused. I reserve the right to accept excuses, which must be provided in a timely fashion. Excused absences and tardiness count as 1/2 of an unexcused absence, so make a point of always being in class and on time. For every unexcused absence past the first one, I will lower the student's final grade by one, which means that 4 or more unexcused absences will result in an F in the course.

Participation

Class will be run primarily by discussion, both in the class and online. The success of the course depends on you coming to class prepared to offer observations and ask questions about the assigned reading. Participation is mandatory and will be graded both on quantity and quality of contributions.

Academic Dishonesty

Plagiarism is a dishonest and in most cases an illegal act. Any use of someone else’s work as your own, and/or any undocumented use of sources in an essay and/or assignment will result in failure for that assignment. Essays obtained through the Internet or any other means and turned in as your own, even if modified, will result in an F in the course. For more details on what is plagiarism and how to avoid it, read the Wikipedia entry on plagiarism at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism.

According to Law 51

Students will identify themselves with the Institution and the instructor of the course for purposes of assessment (exams) accommodations. For more information please call the Student with Disabilities Office which is part of the Dean of Students office (Chemistry Building, room 019) at (787)265-3862 or (787)832-4040 extensions 3250 or 3258.