Professor John G. Morris
Office Hours:
ProfWr. 3203-22316 Spring 2016
10
- 11:30 M W
Office: NB 2027
2
3
M W F
Office Phone: 581-2329
1:30 3
T R
FAX: 581-2789
10
- 10:45
F
johnmor@cameron.edu
and by appointment
Creative Writing--Poetry
Text:
Poulin, Jr., and Waters, eds.
0-618-52785-0
Contemporary American Poetry. 8th ed. ISBN:
Catalogue Course Description: Practice in traditional patterns as well as
original forms of poetry; assigned category-writing, studying, and
sharing methods of composing. Lecture 3 hours.
Course Objectives:
1. Students will gain proficiency in the close reading of poetic texts
2. Students will expand their understanding of the varieties of poetic
form
3. Students will compose, participate in workshop review, and revise
their original works
English Program Objectives:
1. Students will be able to think and read critically
2. Students are knowledgeable about a diversity of literary traditions
and genres
3. Students will be able to write creatively, with competence in prose
and poetry
Course Requirements:
1. Portfolios: At mid-semester and at the end of the term, you will turn
in a portfolio in which you provide the original and a revision for each
poem you have submitted to that point plus any new poems you wish to
submit. I will provide more information about this requirement later.
2. Working Journals: If you want to receive a premium grade, an A or B,
you must provide a completed journal for three individual volumes of
poetry. See handout.
3. Writer's Notebook: If you want to receive a premium grade, an A or B,
you must complete the requirements for the Writer's Notebook.
See
handout.
4. Conferences: I will schedule an appointment with you twice during
the semester so that we can discuss your writing. You are welcome, of
course, to talk with me as many other times as you wish.
Policies:
1. Attendance and Absences: The benefits of this course accrue only
when one is present regularly; this is a laboratory course for which
there are no "notes."
Though there is no direct penalty for missing
class, there is an indirect one. A good rule of thumb is that if you
miss more than four class periods, two weeks of class, you may be in
danger of having your performance, and your final grade, affected; you
Syllabus 2
should thus confer with me when the fifth absence occurs.
2.
Dropping or Withdrawing See the Student Information Sheet and
Syllabus Attachment.
3. Public Safety, Weather Policy, and Emergency Communication: See the
Student Information Sheet and Syllabus Attachment.
4. Accommodation for Disabilities: See the Student Information Sheet and
Syllabus Attachment.
5. Evaluation and Grading:
The quality of your work is the primary
determinant of your final grade. Since this is a undergraduate class,
however, you need not worry that earning an A would require your checking
into the honeymoon suite of the Mt. Parnassus Hotel with Erato; earning
an A will mean that your work is excellent for an undergraduate poet.
Thus, the quality of your work, as demonstrated by the revisions in your
two portfolios, will count 50% of your grade (remember that you can be
Shakespeare himself and still earn a C at best if you do not complete
three Working Journals and complete the assignments for the Writer's
Notebook; see handouts for each of these assignments).
The midterm
portfolio counts 20% of your grade, and the final portfolio counts 30%.
The overall quality of the Working Journals and the Writer's Notebook
will make up 30% of your grade. Class participation, which includes
completion of all work (in a timely fashion), your fulfillment of the
class requirement to read and listen at three of the open coffee shop
readings at the Unitarian Universalist Church (always the third Saturday
of each month at 6:30 p.m.), the average of my evaluations of your
written, and my holistic evaluation of your oral comments, will determine
the final 20% of your grade.
6. Emergency Egress: In case of a weather emergency, please note the
following. The tornado shelter in Nance-Boyer is in the basement. To get
there from Nance-Boyer 1074, exit the classroom to the east (left), turn
left (north) at the cross hallway, proceed to the third stairwell on your
right (east), and walk down one flight to the basement. In case of a
fire alarm, exit the classroom, but turn right (west) and exit the
building through the glass doors. Be sure to walk sufficient distance
from the building to give all occupants room to exit.
7. Changes to Syllabus: Although I do not anticipate having to do so, I
may need to make changes to the daily calendar below, changes I will
announce in class. You are responsible for all such changes regardless
of whether you are present when I announce them; for that reason, you
should get to know one or two people in class and exchange telephone
numbers or e-mail addresses. I will of course be happy to let you know
about any changes if you inquire.
Daily Calendar
Week 1 6 January
W Introduction: focus on standing in the rain, thinking like a poet:
producing images, finding companionable language; readings (all handouts)
Week 2 11-13 January
M
Bishop, “The Fish,” 41-42; Hugo, “Degrees of Gray at Philipsburg,”
231-32; Kinnell, “After Making Love, We Hear Footsteps,” 247-48; Oliver,”
Where Does the Dance Begin, Where Does it End,” 381, “Sleeping in the
Forest,” 381-82; Roethke, “Root Cellar,” 423; Dickey, “The Hospital
Syllabus 3
Window,” 101-02; “Kunitz, “Touch Me,” 288-89; Levertov, “The Mutes,” 30102; Clifton, “wishes for sons,” 76; Dobyns, “How to Like It,” 107-08;
exercises
W Workshop training; poem DUE
Week 3 18-20 January
M Martin Luther King Birthday recess; no class
W Workshop #1
Week 4 25-27 January
M Workshop #1 cont.
W Hayden, “Those Winter Sundays,” 207; Levine, “You Can Have It,” 309-10;
J. Wright,” A Blessing,” 592; Levertov, “Wedding-Ring,” 303; Merwin, “For
the Anniversary of My Death,” 341; Goldbarth, “Talk Show,” 163-64; Hass,
“Happiness,” 202; exercise
Week 5 1-3 February
M exercise; poems DUE (long lines and free)
W Workshop #2; poetry contest deadline 5 p.m. 5 February
Week 6 8-10 February
M Workshop #2 cont.
W Erdrich, “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways,” 132; Glück, “Mock
Orange,” 156; Komunyakaa, “Tu Do Street,” 268-69; Lee, “The Gift,” 291;
Nye, “Arabic,” 358-59; Soto, “Oranges,” 485-86; Stern, “I Remember
Galileo,” 519; exercise
Week 7 15-17 February
M Catchup Period; Poem Due; Working Journal #1 DUE
W Workshop #3; Writer’s Notebook DUE
Week 8 22-24 February
M Workshop #3 cont.; Hass, “A Story about The Body,” 200-01; J. Wright,
“The Secret of Light” (handout); Van Walleghn, “More Trouble With the
Obvious” (handout)
W Poems DUE (prose and free)
Week 9 29 February-2 March
M Workshop #4
W Workshop #4 cont.
Week 10 7-9 March
M Midterm Portfolio DUE
W Hudgins, “In,” 227-28; Justice, “First Death,” 239-41; Kumin,” Morning
Swim,” 273, “Woodchucks,” 276-77; Matthews, “Grief,” 329; Merrill, “The
Kimono,” 335-36; Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz,” 423, “In a Dark Time,” 429;
Sexton, “Her Kind,” 431; Wilbur, “The Ride,” 553; Warren, “Glaucoma”
(handout); exercise
Week 11 14-16 March
Week 12 21-23 March
M scanning exercises
Spring Recess
Syllabus 4
W Exercise
Week 13 28-30 March
M Poems DUE (accentual-syllabic and free); Writer’s Notebook DUE
W Workshop #5; Working Journal #2 DUE
Week 14 4-6 April
M Workshop #5 cont.
W Bishop, “ One Art,” 47, “Sestina” (handout); Dove, “Parsley,” 117-18;
Collins, “Sonnet,” 82; Justice,” In Memory of the Unknown Poet, Robert
Boardman Vaughn,” 245; Lowell, “To Speak of Woe That Is in Marriage,”
318; Wilbur, “In Trackless Woods,” 557-58; Terrill, “To A Brother Before
Marriage” (handout); exercise
Week 15 11-13 April
M Ai, “Twenty-Year Marriage,” 4-5; Williams, “Gas Station,” 564-66;
Hudgins, “Heat Lightning in a Time of Drought,” 225-27; Kizer, “Thrall,”
257-58; exercise; poems due (received form: sonnet, villanelle, sestina,
and so on and free)
W Workshop #6
Week 16 18-20 April
M Workshop #6 cont.; poems due (auction exercise and open)
W Workshop #7
Week 17 25-27 April
M Workshop #7 cont.; Writer’s Notebook DUE
W Catchup period; preparation of manuscripts for submission; Working
Journal #3 DUE; evaluation
Week 18
Monday, 2 May 12:30-2:30 Final Portfolio and mail-ready manuscript DUE
Last Date to withdraw with an automatic "W":
Last Date to Withdraw from a single class:
Wednesday, 6 April
Wednesday, 20 April