ENG 576
Twentieth-Century American Poetry
Professor Jon Thompson
Tompkins 241
Fall 2015 www.jon-thompson.net
jon_thompson@ncsu.edu
From the early twentieth century until the present day, American poetry has widely been recognized as one the most innovative, revolutionary and transformative poetic traditions in world literature. This course will examine the innovative landscape that has been
American poetry in the twentieth century by examining its most influential traditions and many of its writers: Imagism (William Carlos Williams/Ezra Pound), High Modernism
(Wallace Stevens/Marianne Moore), Objectivism (George Oppen), New York School
(Frank O’Hara/James Schuyler/John Ashbery) and Projectivism/Black Mountain
Poetics(Charles Olson/Robert Creeley). We will end by reading the poetry of three contemporary poets whose work draws on, and extends, these rich traditions, Joseph
Massey, C.D. Wright and Harryette Mullen. Rather than use an anthology, we will mainly be reading collections of poems by these poets. Key questions for the course:
What assumptions regarding writers, readers and texts get transformed by these various traditions? What is poetic value? How do these various traditions reference or represent the world? What resources do these traditions offer for contemporary poetry? What do these poems want to do ? Short manifestos will also be part of the reading. Requirements: participation in seminar discussions; a midterm, final exam and a thesis-driven critical essay.
Students will:
1. Engage in depth some of the most innovative and transformative traditions in twentieth century American poetry, traditions that are still formative for many American poets.
2. Learn about key contexts (cultural, historical, political, philosophical) that fostered these poetic traditions.
3. Develop and refine critical reading skills, particularly having to do with poetic texts.
4. Develop and refine writing skills associated with mastering the conventions and language of the critical essay at a professional level.
1. Twentieth-Century American Poetics (McGraw-Hill, 2004), edited by Gioia, Mason and Schoerke.
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2. Ezra Pound, Selected Poems (New Directions)
3. Wallace Stevens, Selected Poems (Knopf)
4. Marianne Moore, Complete Poems (Penguin)
5. Frank O’Hara, Lunch Poems (City Lights Books)
6. James Schuyler, Collected Poems (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
7. John Ashbery, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror: Poems (Penguin)
8. George Oppen, Collected Poems (New Directions)
9. Robert Creeley, Windows (New Directions)
10. C.D. Wright, One Big Self (Copper Canyon Press)
11. Joseph Massey, Areas of Fog (Shearsman Books)
12. Harryette Mullen, Tumbleweed (Graywolf Press)
Aug. 20: 1: Introduction to the course
Aug. 25: Ezra Pound, “A Retrospect” in Twentieth-Century American Poetics (McGraw-
Hill, 2004); Pound, “In a Station of the Metro” from Selected Poems of Ezra Pound ;
William Carlos Williams’s poem “Spring and All” (available online).
Aug. 27: T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland : http://eliotswasteland.tripod.com
Sept. 1: Gertrude Stein, “Composition as Explanation” in Twentieth-Century American
Poetics; T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland : http://eliotswasteland.tripod.com
Sept. 3: Selected Poems of Ezra Pound , Cantos I, II, III, IV, XIII
Sept. 7: Labor Day
Sept. 8: Selected Poems of Ezra Pound , Cantos, XIV, XVII, XLV, XLIX, LXXXI
Sept. 10: Marianne Moore, “Idiosyncrasy and Technique” in Twentieth-Century
American Poetics and Marianne Moore, Selected Poems, 1935 in Complete Poems
(Penguin)
Sept. 15: Marianne Moore, Selected Poems, 1935 in Complete Poems (Penguin)
Sept. 17: Marianne Moore, Selected Poems, 1935 in Complete Poems (Penguin)
Sept. 22: Marianne Moore, Selected Poems, 1935 in Complete Poems (Penguin)
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Sept. 24: Wallace Stevens, Harmonium
Sept. 29: Wallace Stevens, Harmonium
Oct. 1: Wallace Stevens, Harmonium
October 6: Frank O’Hara, Lunch Poems
Oct 8-9: FALL BREAK
Oct. 13: John Ashbery, “The Invisible Avant-Garde” in Twentieth-Century American
Poetics ; John Ashbery, Self- Portrait in a Convex Mirror
Oct. 15 : John Ashbery, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
Take-home midterm distributed; word-processed hardcopy for the last (4 th ) analysis due in class on Oct. 2Oth.
Oct. 16: Drop/Revision deadline
Oct. 20 : James Schuyler, The Morning of the Poem (in Collected Poems ). Note: Bring in 4 th analysis from the midterm exam.
: James Schuyler, The Morning of the Poem (in Collected Poems )
Oct. 27 : George Oppen, Of Being Numerous in New Collected Poems
Critical essay information due.
Oct. 29: George Oppen, Of Being Numerous in New Collected Poems
Nov. 3: George Oppen, Of Being Numerous in New Collected Poems
Nov. 5: Charles Olson, “Projective Verse” in Twentieth-Century American Poetics;
Robert Creeley, Windows
Nov. 10: Robert Creeley, “To Define” and “Poems are a Complex” in Twentieth-Century
American Poetics; Robert Creeley, Windows
Nov. 12 : Joseph Massey, Areas of Fog
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Thesis for critical essay due in class; I will return these in a week or less. (Thesis=5% of your grade).
Nov. 17: C.D. Wright, One Big Self
Nov. 19: C.D. Wright, One Big Self
Nov. 23 (Monday): Due date of revised draft of your essay in hardcopy form (no midnight specials!) by noon in my office, Tompkins 241. This will count for 10% of your course grade.
Nov. 24: Harryette Mullen, Urban Tumbleweed
Nov. 26-27: THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
Dec. 1 : Harryette Mullen, Urban Tumbleweed
I will return drafts of the critical essay with suggestions for revision.
Dec. 3: Retrospective—last day of class.
Dec. 8 : Due date of your final, fully-revised critical essay by noon to be submitted at the final exam.
Dec. 8 : Final Exam from 9.00am-12.00pm (not 8.00-11.00am)
: Tuesdays/Thursdays: 9.00am-10.00am; Wednesdays, 9.00-10.00am
1.
Participation: 10%
2.
Mini-presentation: 10% (This 10 minute presentation can be either on 1) some hidden or underappreciated element of a poet’s craft; 2) an unobserved or undeappreciated context for understanding a particular poet’s work, whether historical, cultural or political or 3) a summary of some particularly vital or interesting critical approach to this writer’s work.)
3.
Critical Essay: 40% (25%=final draft; 10%=first submitted draft; 5%=thesis)
4.
Midterm exam (partly in class): 20%
5.
Final exam (out of class): 20%
The critical essay exists as an opportunity to do some original thinking and research on a limited number of poem by a single poet (roughly 5-8). The goal is to choose one of the topics below and interpret a cluster of poems in light of this topic so that your reading will show a “secret logic,” or a hitherto unappreciated context, which informs the poetry.
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The overall objective is to look at a number of thematically-related poems in a new way so that they can be seen, and understood, in a new context.
Work toward thinking on your own two feet rather than merely accepting or recycling someone else’s view.
Start by analyzing the poems and after you have fashioned a thesis and a rough draft, incorporate secondary sources into your argument as a way of strengthening it. The reason for this order is simple: I want you to develop your own voice and argument first, and then consult the professionals. If you do it the other way around, you run the very real risk of having your ideas overwhelmed or “pre-empted” by the assured voice of a professional critic.
1) Choose a poet on the syllabus to work on.
2) Choose a topic from the list below:
--nature
--“the primitive”
--art
--the poor
--the city
--technology
--everydayness
--nonsense
--the South
--capitalism
--freedom
--trash
Note: It is not sufficient to merely juxtapose the poetry with the topic--i.e. to say here are seven poems by Stevens that deal with nature. Instead, what you should do is to show how some of Stevens’ poetry at its deepest levels (structure, form or style) is informed by a particular way of seeing nature and then discuss how Stevens’ view of nature differs from received or ordinary ways of seeing nature, how it is distinct or sui generis .
3) Identify 7-10 thematically relevant poems to analyze by the same poet (not all of them ones we’ve discussed in class; indeed make sure that at least half of them are not ones we’ve discussed in class).
4) Next, take notes on how each poem represents the subject or issue you’re interested in: what, for example, does Stevens’ “Stars at Talapoosa” say about the American South that no other poem says? Focus on identifying each poem’s distinctive view or “take.” If you
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are seeing pretty much the same perspective in two poems, you haven’t yet found what makes them distinctive.
5) After you’ve taken extensive notes on each of the poems—roughly a page or so at least per poem--look for patterns—as well as shadings in the writer’s thinking. Synthesize the patterns and shadings into a detailed, worked-out thesis (see my thesis sheet).
6) On Oct. 27 th , submit a one page sheet that contains 1) the writer you are working on and 2) the subject or issue you’ve selected to work on; 3) the 7-10 poems you will analyze in your paper.
7) On Nov. 12, submit a finished thesis about a page or so in length based on the thesis handout in class=5% of course grade.
8 Based on your notes of individual poems, write your first draft. REVISE IT FOR
LEGIBILITY and submit it to my office, Tompkins 241 on Monday , November 23 by noon . The draft equals 10% of your course grade.
9) I will return drafts by Dec 1 .
10) Due date of final, revised essay in hardcopy form : Dec. 8 upon arriving for the final exam.
Revise your draft by fully responding to my comments and by incorporating at least three relevant and intellectually-important critical sources into the heart of your argument. (A minimum of three relevant critical sources is acceptable--but in order to arrive at three relevant ones, you will likely have to read at least three times that number).
In other words, don’t just job in any old critical argument into your essay.
Your seminar essay should be 15 pages in length.
Below are guidelines for the formatting of essays based on recommendations from the MLA (the Modern Language Association).
▪
Fonts : Your essay should be word processed in 12-point Times New Roman fonts.
▪
Double space : Your entire essay should be double spaced, with single spacing used in quoting indented lines of poetry. Remember, no extra spacing anywhere. There should not be extra spaces between paragraphs.
▪
Heading : In the upper left corner of the first page of your essay, you should type your name, the instructor's name, your class, and the date, as follows:
Your
Name

Mr. Rambo

ENG 576

30 Nov 2015
▪
Margins : According to the MLA, your essay should have a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, left, and right.
▪
Page Numbers : Your last name and the page number should appear in the upper right corner of each page of your essay, including the first page, as in Jones 1 . Insert your name and the page number as a "header." Do not type this information where
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the text of your essay should be.
▪
Title : Your essay should include a title. The title should be centered and should appear under the heading information on the first page and above the first line of your essay. The title should be in the same fonts as the rest of your essay, with no quotation marks, no underlining, no italics, and no bold.
▪ Indentation : The first line of each paragraph should be indented. According to the
MLA, this indentation should be 1/2 inch or five spaces, but pressing [Tab] once should give you the correct indentation.
▪
Align Left : The text of your essay should be lined up evenly at the left margin but not at the right margin. In your word processor, choose "Align Left." Do not choose
"Justify."
Do not resort to spacing tricks—they’re miserably ineffective and to a practiced eye, they only draw attention to what is missing!
NCSU offers a wealth of writing resources. For starters, look at: http://tutorial.ncsu.edu/wsts-resources
For hands-on assistance with a real human being, see http://tutorial.ncsu.edu/wstsundergrad
97-100= A+
93-96=A
90-92=A-
87-89=B+
83-86=B
80-82=B-
77-79=C+
73-76=C
70-72=C-
67-69=D+
64-66=D
61-63=D-
0-60=F
Welcome! My classes offer a dynamic, interactive learning environment based upon mutual respect, intellectual openness and responsibility. In order for the class to smoothly function at this level, it is necessary to establish some basic ground rules.
1. The seminar will be organized around discussions and mini-lectures. Since this course offers a learning environment structured around the collective insights of the class, participation is required. But don’t panic: participation consists of lots of things (and not
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just the ultimate magisterial interpretation): for example-- informed questions, observations, noting parallels between one thing or field and another, interesting tensions, etc. I encourage all of these forms of participation. [If you are very shy about speaking up, you can assemble this writing into a notebook and I will accept it in lieu of seminar participation. Please let me know in the first week of the course if you would like to avail of this option.]
Note on intellectual engagement: I’m interested in fostering a pedagogical experience conducive to inquiry and challenge. That said, my classes emphasize tolerance, openminded inquiry and respectful disagreement rather than gladiator-style, zero/sum, win/lose contests. Please be mindful of these expectations as you articulate your thinking aloud.
Note on mobile devices: In order to allow for a focused, participatory classroom experience, I ask that everyone turn off his or her cell phone before class, and all cell phones are to be put away and out of sight during class. Texting distracts students and it distracts me, and in my view, it threatens the integrity of the educational experience: if you text in my class you will automatically forfeit the participation part of your grade
(10%), so ask yourself if texting a friend or family member is worth that. For similar reasons, surfing the internet, emailing, doing homework for other classes, reading material not under discussion, eating and grooming oneself are to be done before or after class, but not in it. (Drinks, however, are OK).
2. Attendance is assumed and mandatory. Everyone is allowed 3 emergency absences.
Every absence after that will result in the deduction of a full point from the student’s final overall average. If you are wise, you will use these carefully. If you miss 6 or more classes, you will fail the course. However, since this is a graduate course, any unexcused absence greater than the third such absence will be regarded as a lack of engagement with the course and will require discussion so as to avoid academic penalty.
3. Everyone is responsible for turning in all assignments on time, and for assimilating material covered in seminar lectures and discussions. If you’re having trouble with the content of the course, please see me. ASAP.
4. Missed assignments can only be made up at my discretion, and only if you notify me in advance.
5. Otherwise, work turned in after the due date will be penalized a letter grade for every day that it is late. All work turned in late will be graded late (after the work that has been turned in on time).
6. Plagiarized work will automatically be failed and the student will receive an “F” for the semester. In addition, the case may be referred to the Student Judicial Board for further sanctions. Your essay must be turned in with the following pledge: “I undertake that this essay is my work and my work alone. No one else has contributed to it and
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I have not used anyone else’s ideas or language without attribution.”
Signed________________.
7. If you run into difficulties or have questions about the assignments, course content or grading procedures, please don’t hesitate to discuss them with me. It is easier to help students in the early stages of a problem; it is much harder to do so later on...
Note: Accommodations will be made for verified disabilities as per university regulations.
8. In this class, as in all your classes, follow Ovid’s advice: "Either do not attempt at all, or go through with it."
Explore career options,build resumes and cover letters, prepare for interviews, develop internship/ job search strategies, maximize career fairs, and more. Use ePACK to make an appointment with your career counselor through ePACK. Career Development
Center, 2100 Pullen Hall.
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