ELIT 11: Introduction to Poetry, Winter Quarter 2015
Week 1 (Mon 1/5-Thur 1/8)
Class:
An Introduction to ELIT 11: reading, assignments, expectations, and
evaluation
Neruda’s “Prayer for the Earth” and Smith’s “Do You Wonder,
Sometimes?”
Reading Poetry: How and Why
A (generalist) Poetry Introduction: Form, Terms, Movements, and Style
Case study: Rumi, the ancient modernist
Reading:
Coleman Barks’ Introduction to A Year with Rumi (1-9), 20 Rumi poems
(your choice), An Introduction to Poetry Ch. 1 (2-15)
Writing:
Analytical Response on Rumi due Thur 1/8 (100 pts)
Week 2 (Mon 1/12-Thur 1/15)
Class:
Listening to Voice, Loudly and Subtly: Tone, Persona, Irony,
Confessional Poetry
Reading:
An Introduction to Poetry, Ch. 2 (19-38) and Ch. 14 (262-264)
Supplemental poems:
Plath: “Daddy”
Jordan: “Memo”
Addonizio: “What Do Women Want?”
Week 3 (Tue 1/20-Thur 1/22)
Mon, 1/19:
No Class, Dr. MLK Jr Holiday
Class:
Using Words for Revolution and Enchantment: Modernism, PostModernism, Diction, Denotation/Connotation
Reading:
An Introduction to Poetry, Ch 3 (48-51) and Ch 4 (72-79)
Poets: Dickinson, Frost, cummings, Williams, Pound, Eliot, Stevens
Week 4 (Mon 1/26-Thur 1/29)
Class:
A=B, Figurative Language: Allegory, Metaphor, Simile, Symbol,
Symbolist Movement, Pathetic Fallacy, Imagery, Imagist Movement,
Myth, Archetype
Reading:
An Introduction to Poetry, Ch 5 (84-90) and Ch 6 (104-118) and Ch 12
(226-233) and Ch 13 (240-242, 245-246, 248-256)
Supplemental Poems:
Keats: “Ode on a Grecian Urn”
Simic: “The Stone”
Stevens: “The Emperor of Ice Cream,” “The Snowman,” “Anecdote of a
Jar”
Yeats: “Leda and the Swan”
Week 5 (Mon 2/2-2/5)
Class:
Form, Form without Form, and a New Form: Free-Verse, Sestina,
Villanelle, Found Poetry, Visual Poetry, Sonnet, The Beat Movement,
New Critics, The New York School, Personism, Black Mountain College,
San Francisco Renaissance
Reading:
An Introduction to Poetry, Ch 10 (190-195, 198-200) Ch 11 (204-212,
216-217
Supplemental poets: Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, Bukowski, O’Hara, Spicer,
Brautigan, Creeley, and Padgett
Week 6 (Mon 2/9-Thur 2/12)
Class:
Mid-Term Exam Review
Reading:
Re-reading, Review, Reflect, Catch-up
Writing:
Mid-Term Exam: Wed 2/11 and Thur 2/12 (200 pts total)
Week 7 (Tue 2/17-Thur 2/19)
Mon, 2/16: No Class, Presidents’ Holiday
Class:
Song, Sound, and the Rhythm of Meaning
Reading:
An Introduction to Poetry, Ch 7 and Ch 8 and Ch 9
Note: This schedule is subject to revision. JKQ