ENGLISH 4106.01W: Studies in Genre (Poetry)
MW 12:30-1:50 pm, PAF 109
Spring 2013
Dr. Chad Davidson
CONTACT INFORMATION
E-mail: davidson@westga.edu
Phone: 678.839.4865
Office: TLC 2236
Hours: MW 11-12 pm; T 1-4 pm; and by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is devoted to an intense and trans-historical study of the ways in which poems mean. We will explore the
intersections of poetry, history, and culture, and how they help to define one another. We will spend the majority of
our time unpacking poems in class, achieving both a more nuanced sense of poetics and a deeper understanding of
how poetry affects, and is affected by, history and culture. We will focus primarily on nineteenth- and twentiethcentury British and American poets but will constantly reference works outside those parameters. Ultimately, the
goal of this course is to arm you with competence and confidence in reading poetry from divergent aesthetics and
cultural contexts, and to give you some of the tools necessary to write critically about what you find there.
LEARNING OUTCOMES AND UNIVERSITY SYLLABUS GUIDELINES:
http://www.westga.edu/~engdept/fr/CourseGuid/4106.html
http://www.westga.edu/assetsDept/vpaa/Common_Language_for_Course_Syllabi.pdf
REQUIRED TEXTS
Fraser, Gregory, and Chad Davidson, Analyze Anything: A Guide to Critical Reading and Writing; plus a wide range
of poetry and prose distributed via CourseDen.
E-MAIL
Students must check their e-mail accounts regularly and must not let the mailboxes of these accounts become full and
thus unable to receive communications.
ACADEMIC HONESTY
The Department of English defines plagiarism as taking personal credit for the words and ideas of others as they
are presented in electronic, print, and verbal sources. The department expects that students will accurately credit
sources in all assignments. Any form of plagiarism or academic dishonesty—no matter the assignment or its
relation to the final grade—will result in an automatic course grade of F. Read more information at
http://www.westga.edu/writing/index_153.php
DETERMINATION OF SEMESTER GRADE
Memorizations
10%
First Critical-writing Project
10%
Second Critical-writing Project
20%
Third Critical-writing Project
25%
Final Critical-writing Project
35%
MEMORIZATIONS
To strengthen your sense of the ways in which poetry sounds, you will memorize roughly two hundred lines of verse
throughout the semester. These memorizations occur ten times in the term, each accounting for roughly twenty lines.
You will be asked in class to transcribe (not recite) perfectly from memory the predetermined lines, including correct
spelling, punctuation, and lineation. Each error will be a point off of the total, which will be different for each poem
but always objective (based on the actual number of characters and punctuation in the original). If you miss quizzes
or do poorly on them, you may make up a maximum of two, and only by coming to my office and reciting them from
memory.
Davidson ENGL 4106
Syllabus 2
CRITICAL-WRITING PROJECTS
Ninety percent of your overall grade will come from the four critical-writing projects, each more rigorous than the
last, and each building on skills from the previous. I will distribute more information on these projects as we
approach them in the schedule. Combined length for these projects will run to roughly twenty pages.
GRADING CHART
90-100 = A; 80-89 = B; 70-79 = C; 60-69 = D; Below 60 = F
PENALTIES FOR LATE ASSIGNMENTS
Turned in late on due date
=
Up to two days after due date
=
More than two days after due date
=
More than one week after due date
=
More than two weeks after due date
=
docked 3 points
docked 5 points
docked 10 points
docked 20 points
no credit
ATTENDANCE AND ETIQUETTE
Your regular participation in this class is a vital part of its success. Each student is allotted three absences—no more.
Upon the fourth absence, you will be administratively withdrawn. Be aware that no distinction exists between
excused and unexcused absences. If the withdrawal occurs prior to the withdrawal date, you will receive a grade of
W. If the withdrawal occurs after the withdrawal date, you will receive a grade of WF. If you suspect that outside
responsibilities might cause you to miss more than three classes, then consider taking the course at another time.
Please come to class on time with your cell phone off. Three tardies constitutes an absence. Any cell phone
interruption constitutes a tardy.
DISABILITIES SERVICES
The Americans for Disabilities Act requires that all programs at the university be accessible to people with
disabilities. UWG has an office of Disability Services to help students and professors with ways to offset the various
disability limitations presented by students in the classroom. The coordinators of the service are Licensed
Professional Counselors located within the Student Development Center, which is in Parker Hall. The coordinators
are available to work out with both professors and students a fair and feasible way for accommodations to be
provided. Any student sanctioned by the office of Disability Services will have a Student Disability Report and a
Disabled Student Handbook available to show the professor. The Student Disability Report is binding because it is
based on documentation, which meets legal standards according to ADA Section 504 and Board of Regents criteria
for accommodating students with disabilities.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Though we usually only analyze one or two poems in each class, the depth of our engagement will necessitate
extremely close reading on your part. I will inevitably supplement your reading with further criticism, and encourage
you to share with the class any helpful information that you discover. This schedule is subject to change at my
discretion. All materials are available on CourseDen.
8/26
Poetry: “A Martian Sends a Postcard Home,” Craig Raine
8/28
Quiz 1: “The Road Not Taken,” Frost (entire poem)
Poetry: “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost
Prose: Marsden Hartley essay (a brief excerpt on the painter Hartley, which provides historical context for
modernism in general); David Brooks’s “Modernism” excerpt
9/2
Labor Day—no class
9/4
Quiz 2: Williams and Pound (all three assigned poems)
Poem: “The Red Wheelbarrow” and “This Is Just to Say,” William Carlos Williams; and “In a Station of the
Metro,” Ezra Pound
Prose: Pound study guide; Analyze Anything, Chapters 1-3
Davidson ENGL 4106
Syllabus 3
9/9
Quiz 3: “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” Walt Whitman (entire poem)
Poetry: “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” Walt Whitman; “Sonnet 87,” Shakespeare; “Dream
Song 14,” John Berryman
9/11
Poetry: “My Last Duchess,” Robert Browning
9/16
Poetry: “Respect, 1967,” Ai
First critical-writing project due
9/18
Quiz 4: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T. S. Eliot (the first 14 lines)
Poetry: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T. S. Eliot”
9/23
Poetry: “[Because I could not stop for Death],” Emily Dickinson
Prose: Analyze Anything, Chapter 4
9/25
Quiz 5: “Daddy,” Sylvia Plath (the first 13 lines)
Poetry: “Daddy,” Sylvia Plath
Prose: Phillips essay on confessional poetry
9/30
Critical-writing workshop
10/2
Critical-writing workshop
10/7
Poetry: “The Fish,” Bishop
Second critical-writing project due
10/9
Quiz 6: “The Fish,” Marianne Moore (the first 14 lines)
Poetry: “The Fish,” Marianne Moore
10/14
Poetry: “MCMXIV,” Philip Larkin; “Facing It,” Yusef Komunyakaa
Prose: Analyze Anything, Chapter 5
10/16
Quiz 7: “My Papa’s Waltz,” Theodore Roethke (entire poem)
Poetry: “My Papa’s Waltz,” Theodore Roethke; “Sixth Grade,” Marie Howe
Withdrawal deadline 10/18
10/21
Poetry: “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey [. . .],” William Wordsworth
Prose: “Tintern Abbey” study guide
10/23
Quiz 8: “Musée des Beaux Arts,” W. H. Auden (the first 13 lines)
Poetry: “Musée des Beaux Arts,” W. H. Auden
10/28
Critical-writing workshop
10/30
Critical-writing workshop
11/4
Poetry: “Emmett Till’s Glass-Top Casket,” Cornelius Eady
Third critical-writing project due
11/6
Quiz 9: “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers,” Adrienne Rich (entire poem)
Poetry: “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers,” Adrienne Rich
11/11
Poetry: “Emperor of Ice-Cream,” Wallace Stevens
Prose: elegy introduction
Davidson ENGL 4106
Syllabus 4
11/13
Quiz 10: “The Day Lady Died,” Frank O’Hara (the last ten lines)
Poetry: “The Day Lady Died,” Frank O’Hara; “Serenade,” Zach Savich
11/18
Poetry: “Adolescence-II,” Rita Dove; “Blond,” Natasha Trethewey
11/20
Poetry: “Clear Night,” Charles Wright; “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm […],” James Wright
Prose: pastoral introduction
11/25
Thanksgiving recess—no class
11/27
Thanksgiving recess—no class
12/2
Critical-writing workshop
12/4
Critical-writing workshop
12/11
Last class (11:00-1:30 pm)
Fourth critical-writing project due