Senior seminar: formalism - Poetry, and 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
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. Choose one to analyze and write up a close reading of it (2-3 paragraphs). Drop it into the Dropbox as a PDF.
4. Read through the syllabus carefully on your own.
5. Find any literature anthologies you have at home and bring them to our next session.
September 2: Meter & Scansion
Sign up for a Poetic Form Presentation
Rhyme and Scansion. Form and Content.
Meter, rhythm, message: The Temptations
Rhyme: near rhyme, slant rhyme, eye rhymes, feminine rhymes. Eminem (orange) and parsing lyrics
Lesson on Poetic Devices - our study guide is here
Cleanth Brooks, "The Heresy of Paraphrase" (here).
The Heresy of Paraphrase 2: Hamlet as Facebook alerts.
Resources: Oxford Reference and Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
HW: 1. Study for quiz on poetic devices. 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. Begin looking for poems that fall under your presentation topic and that you’ll assign to the class for reading. Email me if you have questions. 4. Watch the 2 Eminem videos linked above. 5. Read PMLA article by Rachel Buurma and Laura Heffernan (linked below) and, if you like, “The Heresy of Paraphrase” (linked above).
September is Hispanic Heritage Month!
Link to all the special Lehman College programming here.
Please attend at least one event and write a Field Report reflecting on what you gained from that experience. Due Oct. 20.
September 9: Sonnets
Lecture notes from Week 3 on sonnet form
Announcements: HHM, Town Hall, confirm presentation topics.
Rachel Buurma and Laura Heffernan, “The Classroom in the Canon: T. S. Eliot’s Modern English Literature Extension Course for Working People and The Sacred Wood” PMLA 133, no. 2 (March 2018): 264–281. (Article linked here.)
Sonnets packet we’ll be reading today.
Poetic Devices quiz!
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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. Please attend the Curriculum Reform Town Hall meeting tomorrow at 11am if you can! Zoom link here or in your email. 3. Pick a Hispanic Heritage month event to attend and write up. 4. Start work on your presentation! Email me for help if needed.
September 16: NO CLASS
SEPTEMBER 23: Odes
Lecture notes from Week 4 on odes
Madeline Sayet, “Interrogating the Shakespeare System”
Review of sonnet form: Billy Collins & Harryette Mullen. Compare to Shakespeare Sonnet 130.
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Class led by Kassandra & Egypt
Alexander Pope, ““Ode on 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
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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”
SEPTEMBER 30: Elegies
Lecture notes from Week 5 on elegies
Read this essay by Madeline Sayet, “Interrogating the Shakespeare System”
Class led by Edwin and Kiara
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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”
Edgar Allan Poe, “Annabel Lee”
Claudia Rankine, Citizen
Reading at the Woodberry Poetry Room
Claudia Rankine, Citizen VI [My brothers are notorious]
Poems you wrote: “Epitaph” by Hernandez & Risko; “Elegy-Free Verse” by A. Tejada
October 7: Ballads & Common Meter
Lecture notes from Week 6 on ballads
Class led by Ula and Ammaline
John Keats, “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”
Susan Wolfson, Introduction to John Keats: A Longman Cultural Edition
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
October 14: EPICS
Lecture notes from Week 7 on epics
AAARI Essay Contest: Start thinking about your definition of virtue. (Just think for now — we will carve out writing time in class on 10/22.)
Poetry Paper 1 Assignment distributed (due Nov. 1)
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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 3 weeks’ time! (2) Choose your Presentation 2 Topic (a poet and/or literary circle)
National Coming Out Day information for those interested!
Please feel free to join the speak out or sign on later to hear some awesome authors.
October 21: Comic verse, Children’s verse & Free VERSE
Choose a poem to memorize and recite in 3 weeks’ time!
Choose your Presentation 2 Topic (a poet and/or literary circle)
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Class led by Rachelly & Caroline
Comic Verse & Nonsense
Roger McGough, “Let Me Die a Youngman’s Death”
Edward Lear, “There Was a Young Lady of Norway”
Edward Lear, “The Owl and the Pussycat”
Children’s Verse
Christina Rossetti, “Ferry Me Across the Water”
Lewis Carroll, “The Walrus and the Carpenter”
Lewis Carroll, “ Jabberwocky”
Shel Silverstein, “The Voice” and “The Difference”
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Free Verse
“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
October 28: new formalism, Poetry & Activism
Election Day is Nov. 2. Please vote if you can!
Lecture Notes from Week 9 on New Formalism.
Sign up for Presentations II.
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Class led by Ashley & Jennifer
Caroline Levine, Forms (read introduction pp. 1-10)
Audre Lorde, “The Black Unicorn” and “A Woman Speaks”
“Contemporary Woman Poets” with Audre Lorde & Marge Piercy
Audre Lorde, from The Black Unicorn
Harryette Mullen, "European Folktale Variant" (here)
Begin full draft of your poetry paper.
November 4: Conferences - No regular class
Choose presentation topic & practice for your recitation!
November 11 & 18: poetry Recitation & essay workshop
Choose Presentation Topics: Poet & Archive
—>I’m extending the final paper deadline to November 6! I encourage you to send me a draft Oct 31 so I can work with you on improving your paper..
Paper I Assignment linked here.
Presentation II Assignment linked here.
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Recitation order:
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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
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HW: 1. Complete your Essay 1 draft. 2. Think about what virtue means to you. 3. Sign up for an NYPL library card here and figure out your pin # before our library session next week.
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 5: Research Resources & Virtue Essay Contest
Lecture notes from Week 11 (Library Research Guide)
Class visit from Leonard Lief librarian
Find/sign up for your NYPL library card (& activate pin #)
Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
HW: 1. Poetry Paper I due by Friday night (midnight). 2. Use the sources and research techniques shared by Prof. Farrell to do substantial research work on Presentation II.
November 12: Imagism | Harlem Renaissance
In-class Writing: AAARI Virtue Essay Contest
Harlem Renaissance: Jennifer & Alexandra
Imagists: Rachelly & Lizbeth
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“Breaking the Pentameter: Imagism's Radical Break with Tradition”
Ezra Pound, “In a Station of the Metro”
William Carlos Williams, “Summer Song”
“The Weary Blues” (1925) by Langston Hughes
1958 CBUT Live Performance
Langston Hughes, “Mother to Son”
Arnold Rampersad, Introduction and Chronology to The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
HW: 1) Finish a full draft of your Virtue Essay and save it in your personal Dropbox.
November 19: NuyoriCan poets
Class led by Ashley T., Kiara, Roxann & Jason
Miguel Pinero, “The Book of Genesis According to St. Miguelito”
Pedro Pietri, “Puerto Rican Obituary”
Elizabeth Acevedo, “You Mean You Don’t Weep at the Nail Salon?”
Willie Perdomo, “N-word Reecan Blues”
November 27: No class - happy Thanksgiving!
Start work on your Final Paper!
Please use top-notch resources as recommended by Prof. Farrell.
December 3: Language Poets, Kitchen Table Press & Conceptual Poetry
Class led by Egypt (Kitchen Table Press), Caroline (Harryette Mullen), Ula, Kassandra, & Ammaline
Harryette Mullen, “Dim Lady” and “European Folktale Variant”
December 10: Reading Day (no class)
Please take 5 minutes to tidy up your Dropbox and relabel your files. Your folder should look like this Sample Dropbox here.
Fill out the Course Evaluation survey sent to you from the associate vice provost.
FINAL PAPER ASSIGNMENT linked here.
Presentation II Assignment linked here.
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)