Senior Seminar. “Formalisms: Poetics & Politics”
Marianne Moore with Muhammad Ali (1967)
August 26: What is formalism?
What is Formalism? / Form & Content
Poetry vs. Prose / Rhyme & Rhythm / Poetic Forms / Poetic Devices
A - “Poetry” (1935) by Marianne Moore
“When Muhammad Ali Wrote a Poem with Marianne Moore” by Danny Heitman
B - “On the Pulse of Morning” by Maya Angelou (1993 Inauguration poem for Bill Clinton)
“In Memory of W.B. Yeats” (1940) by W.H. Auden
C - “The Weary Blues” (1925) by Langston Hughes
1958 CBUT Live Performance
D - “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake
“The Cry of the Children” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
E - “Since I Lost My Baby” by The Temptations (That song I played)
Trade Contact Info / Syllabus Review
HW: 1. Set up your www.dropbox.com account (downloading the app if you wish) and accept my folder invitation.
2. Read the “Letter to ENG 350 Students.” Write your Letter to the Professor (response and revision) and submit as a PDF in Dropbox.
3. Review the poems from this week. For yourself, practice writing up some of our close reading points (2-3 paragraphs). Drop it into the Dropbox as a PDF.
4. Read through the syllabus carefully on your own. Think about which form and what poem of your choice you’d like to do a close reading presentation on.
5. Find any literature anthologies you have at home and bring them to our next session.
Important dates:
The midterm (Poetry Recitation) will be held on October 28.
Poetry Paper (Paper 1) is due on November 5.
Final Paper (Paper 2) is due on December 17.
Presentations 1 & 2 will be scheduled in class for October and November.
~
Midterm Recitation Assignment here
Paper 1 Assignment here
Paper 2 Assignment here
September 2: POETIC DEVICES, Meter & Scansion
Rhyme and Scansion. Form and Content. Rhyme: near rhyme, slant rhyme, eye rhymes, feminine rhymes. Eminem (orange) and parsing lyrics
Lesson on Poetic Devices - our study guide is on our Google doc.
Resources: Oxford Reference and Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
HW: 1. Study the poetic devices we’ve learned. 2. Review this week’s lessons on scansion and rhyme. Take some time to write out some of the lessons from today’s class (about finding patterns and finding exceptions, how to do scansion, the different kinds of rhyme, etc.) 3. Read through the sonnets in the Sonnet packet listed under next week’s class. 4. Watch the 2 Eminem videos linked above. 5. Make sure your Dropbox has has both the Letter to me and a practice close reading in it (from last week).
September 9: Sonnets
Robert Frost, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” (scansion practice)
Poetic Devices Worksheet
Sonnets PACKET we’ll be reading this week.
Also:
Shakespeare, Sonnet 130
Harryette Mullen, Dim Lady
Billy Collins, Sonnet
HW: 1. Go over your notes on sonnet form. Create a 1-page study guide (drawn out by hand or typed out) explaining the details of sonnet form that we learned. Take a picture of it and drop it into your personal Dropbox folder. 2. Practice scansion using the worksheet linked above. We’ll go over it next class. 3. Choose your presentation form & poem. Start with your close reading of it in preparation for Paper 1 & Presentation 1.
September 16: NO CLASS
Pick your presentation week and work on your close reading presentation (Presentation 1). You can use the same material from Presentation 1 for Paper 1.
September 23: ODES
Lecture notes on odes
We’ll go over the scansion worksheet together.
(Scansion answer key here.)
Presentations:
Stephanie B, Shakespeare Sonnet 129
Nicole A, “If thou must love me let it be for nought”
_________________________________
Pablo Neruda, “Ode to My Socks” and “Ode to Sadness”
Original Spanish: “Oda a los calcetines” and “Oda a la tristeza”
A recorded reading: “Oda a los calcetines”
Jane Austen, “Ode to Pity”
Alexander Pope, “Ode to Solitude”
John Keats, “Ode to Pysche” and “Ode on Melancholy”
Critical edition of poems (with glosses) linked here
Scholarly criticism:
Susan Wolfson, Introduction to John Keats: A Longman Cultural Edition
Helen Vendler, The Odes of John Keats
________________________________________________________________________
SEPTEMBER 30: ELEGIES
Lecture notes on elegies
Poetry Paper I Assignment distributed
Presentation:
Alvin, Tennyson’s “The Eagle” (an ode)
______________________________________
Thomas Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”
Walt Whitman, “O Captain! My Captain!”
1890 Autograph Manuscript of “O Captain! My Captain!” at The Morgan Library
Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H.
Erik Gray, Introduction to Norton Critical Edition of In Memoriam
Background info and images from The British Library
Critical Article: Erik Gray, “Polypopton in In Memoriam: Evolution, Speculation, Elegy”
Charlotte Smith, Elegiac Sonnets
Edgar Allan Poe, “Annabel Lee”
Claudia Rankine, Citizen
“You are in the dark, in the car”
Reading at the Woodberry Poetry Room
Claudia Rankine, Citizen VI [My brothers are notorious]
Elegies by Lehman students: “Epitaph” by Hernandez & Risko; “Elegy-Free Verse” by A. Tejada
_______________________________________
HW: 1) Read through the Paper I assignment linked above. We went over it in class and this is not due until Nov 5. 2) Start thinking about what poem you’ll recite for your Midterm Recitation on 10/28. 3) Prepare your Presentation I for the week you signed up for. 4) I asked everyone in the last 20 minutes of class to compose an ode or elegy and email it me. Indicate whether you or not you are okay having this shared with the class next week.
October 7: BALLADS & COMMON METER
Lecture notes on ballads
Class odes
Wordsworth, “Goody Blake and Harry Gill”
Emily Dickinson, “Man May Make a Remark”; “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”; “Come slowly—Eden”
R.W Franklin, Introduction to The Poems of Emily Dickinson
John Keats, “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”
Susan Wolfson, Introduction to John Keats: A Longman Cultural Edition
October 14: Comic verse & Children’s verse
Choose a poem to memorize and recite in 3 weeks’ time!
Presentations: Brittany, Rehnooma, Aurela, Hannah, Patricia
———————————————
Comic Verse & Nonsense
Dorothy Parker, “One Perfect Rose”
Roger McGough, “Let Me Die a Youngman’s Death”
Ogden Nash, “To My Valentine”
Wendy Cope, “Loss”
Edward Lear, “There Was a Young Lady of Norway”
Edward Lear, “The Owl and the Pussycat”
Children’s Verse
Robert Browning, “The Pied Piper of Hamelin”
Christina Rossetti, “Ferry Me Across the Water”
Lewis Carroll, “The Walrus and the Carpenter”
Lewis Carroll, “ Jabberwocky”
Shel Silverstein, “The Voice” and “The Difference”
—————————————————————-
HW: 1) Fill in which poem you’ll memorize for our Oct 28 midterm and link to the text on our Google Doc. 2) Start brainstorming / drafting your Paper I.
October 21: EPICS
Lecture notes on epics
Presentations: Angel, Sebastian A., Nicole F., Emily, Danielle R.
———————————————
Class led by Jason and Alexandra
Passages from Homer’s The Odyssey and Dante’s Inferno (Jason)
Passages from Milton’s Paradise Lost and Beowulf (Alexandra)
For reference: Herbert Tucker, Epic: Britain’s Heroic Muse 1790-1910
HW: (1) Choose a poem to memorize and recite in next week! (2) Choose your Presentation 2 Topic (a poet and/or literary circle)
Free verse
Ezra Pound, “A Retrospective” and “Some Dos and Donts”
“Breaking the Pentameter: Imagism's Radical Break with Tradition”
Ezra Pound, “In a Station of the Metro”
William Carlos Williams, “Summer Song”
Langston Hughes, “Mother to Son”
Arnold Rampersad, Introduction and Chronology to The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
Pablo Neruda, “If You Forget Me”
Jose Olivarez, “Mexican Heaven”
HW: Memorize & recite a poem of your choice. Performance next week! 1) Fill out the Google Doc. Make sure you include the full text of your memorized poem so that I can make the program. 2) Read the Midterm Recitation assignment listed below under October 28. 3) Work on your draft of Paper 1 (due in 2 weeks).
OCTober 28: midterm: poetry recitation
Election Day is Nov. 2. Please vote if you are eligible!
Felicia Hemans, “Casabianca”
Caroline Robson, “Standing on the Burning Deck: Poetry, Performance, History”
Book: Heart Beats: Everyday Life and the Memorized Poem
Midterm Recitation Assignment / memorization help
Midterm Recitation Program
HW: Draft poetry paper, due Nov. 5
November 4: no class / finish & submit ESSAY 1
Please spend today’s time finishing up your paper. No regular class.
Also make sure that you are caught up on any missing assignments in Dropbox. You’ll find a Grade Book file in there to keep track of your progress.
If you haven’t already, make sure each assignment (including your Presentation I slides) are in your Dropbox and clearly labeled.
Essay help:
Anatomy of a Five-Paragraph Essay
The Art of Quoting, from They Say, I Say by Graff and Birkenstein
Integrating Sources & Incorporating Quotes sample
Essay Grading Rubric
HW: 1. Poetry Paper I due as a PDF (not Word Doc) in your Dropbox by Friday, November 5 (midnight).
November 11: introduction to unit 2 - Poets & Literary circles
Choose a poetic circle & explore digital archives relating to your group. Sign up for Presentations II.
(Library Research Guide)
(Lecture notes from class)
Sign up for an NYPL library card here and figure out your pin # in order to access the resources I’m sharing with you.
HW: Put in 2 hours of reading/researching for your presentation topic. Communicate with your group at least 1 to update them on what you’ve achieved and what you’ll be ready to contribute to group work next class.
Poets & Literary Circles
Harlem Renaissance: Countee Cullen, Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes
Black Mountain Poets: Paul Blackburn
L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E: Haryette Mullen
Nuyoriqan Poets: Jack Agüeros, Magdalena Gómez
Imagists: Gertrude Stein, Marianne Moore, Ezra Pound
The Beats: Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg
Kitchen Table Press: Audre Lorde
The Pre-Raphaelites: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris
Shelley and His Circle: John Keats, Percy Shelley, Leigh Hunt
November 18: Essays Review / POetic Circles Collaboration
G.M. Hopkins, “Pied Beauty”
John Keats, “To Autumn”
Library Resources & Research Guides
Presentation II Assignment: Leading Class & Critical Study Guide One Pager
Paper II Assignment
*Sample Research Guides
HW: Put in 2 hours of reading/researching for your presentation topic. Communicate with your group at least 1x plan and practice your presentation / leading class. (2) Read through your essay comments carefully and make a list of 2-4 points to attend to as you write Paper II.
Poetic Circles Groups
Shelley & His Circle: Patricia
Harlem Renaissance: Sila, Tracey, Angel, Aurela
Modernists: Rehnooma, Nicole F.
Nuyoriqan Poets: Emily, Alvin, Hannah, Sebastien
Kitchen Table: Nicole A
November 27: No class - happy Thanksgiving!
(Library Research Guide)
HW: Prepare (and practice) your presentation. Start writing Paper II.
December 2: Poetic Circles Presentations
Shelley & His Circle: Patricia
Harlem Renaissance: Sila, Tracey, Angel, Aurela
Modernists: Rehnooma, Nicole F., Stephanie
Class-led discussion by 3 groups.
HW: (1) Hand in your 1-page Research Guide by dropping it into your Dropbox on the day of your presentation. (2) Start working on Paper II.
December 9: last day of class
Nuyoriqan Poets: Emily, Alvin, Hannah, Sebastien
Kitchen Table: Nicole A, Danielle, Brittany
Class-led discussion by 2 groups.
HW: (1) Hand in your 1-page Research Guide by dropping it into your Dropbox on the day of your presentation. (2) Start working on Paper II. When you submit paper II, make sure your Research Guide is appended to the back of it. (3) Fill out the Course Evaluation survey sent to you from the associate vice provost.
Extra Credit: Submit to the CUNY Ethics and Morality Essay Contest (here)
Housekeeping & Tips:
Paper II Assignment (due Dec 17)
Reread the assignment itself. Reread my comments on your Paper I and implement those suggestions!
Use your Critical Study Guide (research sources) and add it to the end of your paper. This material should jumpstart your Bibliography/Works Cited.
Please take 5 minutes to tidy up your Dropbox and relabel your files. Your folder should look like this Sample Dropbox here.
I am available for office hours if you would like to talk about any poets and your papers!
Essay help:
Feel free to meet with me or make an appointment to talk about your essay topic, paper structure, etc. Don’t be shy!
Anatomy of a Five-Paragraph Essay
The Art of Quoting, from They Say, I Say by Graff and Birkenstein
Integrating Sources & Incorporating Quotes sample
Essay Grading Rubric
(Library Research Guide)
Final papers due as a PDF in your Dropbox on Friday, December 17.
Paper II (Final Essay) linked here.
Presentation II Assignment linked here.