19th C. American Poetry SLLABUS Fall 2007
Ira Sadoff Miller 224 x 5283; emailisadoff@colby.edu
Offi hours Mon.,Thurs. 1-3 PM, plus extensive e-mail hours
EN344 . 19th-Cent Amer Poetry
--T-R-- 11:00-12:15 pm
LOVE 318
Texts: Johnson, Dickinson FINAL HARVEST; Moon, ed. NORTON CRITICAL LEAVES OF
GRASS
Sept. 6 Opening talk on
Dickinson
Sept.11
Sept.13
supplementary:
57(246) forever at His Side to
78(280) I Felt a Funeral in My
79(281) "Tis so appalling -- it
Walk
Brain;
exhilarates;
203(508) I'm ceded -- I've
204(510) It was not Death, for
152(396) There is a Languor
stopped being theirs
I stood up,
of the Life;
66 (258) There's a Certain
(1304) Not with a Club, the
Slant of Light;
Heart is
269(650) Pain -- has an
Element of Blank
248(599) There is pain -- so
utter
119(335) Tis not dying….
Sept.18
Sept.20
supplementary:
186(470) I am alive -- I guess
184(465) I heard a Fly buzz -318(777)The Loneliness one
204(510) It was not Death, for
when I died
dare not
I stood up,
290(712) Because I could not
326(797) By my Window I
stop ...
have for scenery
37(193) I shall know why -when time
507(1461) Heavenly Father
(160) Just lost, when I was
saved
Sept.25
Sept.27
supplementary:
149(389) There's been a
77(279) Tie the Strings to my
12death/ecstasy/romance
Death
Sharon Cameron, "Lyric Time" Life;
188(474) They put Us far apart
web
(240(579)I Had been hungry,
Mary Arensberg, "The
all the Years
Sublime" web
209(520) I started early -- took 253(611)I see thee better -- in
the Dark293
my dog
200(498)I envy Seas, whereon (716)The day undressed Herself
He rides 163
64(255) To die -- takes just a
little while
Oct.2 (414)'Twas like a
Oct.4social/sexual politics
supplementary:
Maelstrom
265(640) I cannot live with
112(324) Some keep Sabbath
58(249) Wild Nights -- Wild
You
going to
Nights! 398
307(754) My Life had stood -120(338)I know that He exists
a loaded GUN;
323(791) God Gave a Loaf
254(612) it would have starved
a gnat
179(453) Love—thou art high
154(401) What Soft --Cherubic
Creatures
Oct.9 89(293) I got so I could
Oct.11 Art
supplementary:
take his name 114(326)
Mary Loffleholz excerpt
176(448) This was a Poet
The Malay—took the Pearl
114(326)I Cannot dance
427(1129) Tell all the Truth but
178(452)
565(1737) Rearrange a
"wife's" affection
505(I would not paint--(web)
Oct.16 Mary Loffleholz excerpt
126(348) I Dreaded that first
Robin, so
498(1400) What mystery …
273(668) 'Nature is What …
236
Oct.18
The Sentimental poets
(hdt)
Emerson Nature essay
Poems “Each and all”
“The Snowstorm”
“Brahma”
Fall break
Oct.25 Whitman intro
Possibly cont. Emerson, excpt.
“The poet” essay”(hdt) or
Walt Whitman, LEAVES OF
GRASS
Preface to 1855 Edition
pp.617-622 (l.1-260); pp.628636 (l.512-end)
Nov.1
Oct.30 Space.time,
immortality:
"Crossing the Brooklyn Ferry,"
p.135
Sexuality/ The Senses/ The Body
Letter to Emerson1856,pp.
644-646 l.286-end
"From Pent-up Aching Rivers,"
p.79
“Spontaneous Me”
Nov.6 Identity/doubt
"There was a Child Went
Forth," p.306
Nov.8
"When I Heard the Close of
Day" p.105
"I Saw in Louisiana..."p.108
Nov.13 Death and Eternity
(revisited)
The Sleepers, p.356
Nov.15
“As I Ebbed with the Ocean of
Life, p.212
“On the Beach at Night”p.218
Nov.20 Song of Myself p. 28
class discussion:sections
3,4,6,20 ,24
Thanksgiving break
tell it
546(1651) A word made flesh
288(709) Publication -- is
525(1545) The bible is …
177(449) I died for Beauty
Nature:211(526)to hear an
oriole sing
109(321) Of all the sounds
(1068) Farther in summer than
the Birds
422(1100) The last Night
5(23)I had a guinea golden
123(342) It will be Summer
422(1100) The last night that
116(328) A Bird came down
104(314) Nature--sometimes
132(364) The morning after
82(285) The Robin's my
supplementary:
"Passage to India," p.345
"Song of the Open Road"
p.126
"Song of the Redwood-Tree"
p.206
"To a Locomotive" p.395
"Song for Occupations" p.187
Supp
"A Woman Waits for Me," p.87
Whoever you Are …ˇ" p.99
"Are you the New Person
Drawn Toward me," p.105
Who Learns My Lesson
Complete," p.331
"To a Common Prostitute,"
p.325
To a Stranger" p.109
“Scented Herbage of my
Breast,” p.97
supplementary:
"When I peruse..." p.110
When I Hear'd the Learn'd
Astronomer," p.227
"To a Pupil," p.328
supplementary:
"Out of the Cradle Endlessly
Rocking," p.246
This Compost, p.309
"To Think of Time," p.364
"Whispers of Heavenly Death,"
p.370
"Kosmos," p.392
"What am I After All," p.392
supplementary:The War
"The Wound Dresser," p. 259
"Vigil Strange I kept..." p.255
"A Sight in the Camp," p.257
Cavalry Crossing a Ford p.251
By the Bivouac's … p. 253
When Lilacs p.276
The Mystic Trumpeter, p.392
Over the Carnage p.265
Reconciliation, p.270
Nov.27 Song of Myself (cont)
28 ,32,42, 46,49
Nov.29 “Song of Myself,” cont.
Dec.4 Melville, Douglass/
Dec.6 make-up day
Dunbar (hdt)
Take Home Final due when Final exam would be due.
Expectations: I direct the class as a discussion group, a community of learners, so students are
expected to prepare the poems before coming to class and take notes on the texts. bringing questions
when you’re puzzled to stimulate interchange. Always bring your texts to class: we'll refer to them all
the time. Class discussion counts as part of class grade. Students are expected to attend and
contribute to all classes; you'll be permitted two unexcused absences during a semester; if you don’t
bring your text, you’ll be absent.
Papers: Two choices for writing papers:
one long 12-15 page paper due Monday before Thanksgiving break. For such an ambitious project, I
will require a thesis paragraph and project outline 2 weeks before paper due date. The project
proposal will count as 20% of your grade on the paper. It should include your approach to the texts, a
statement about how it reflects theoretical or contextual concerns, a tentative list of secondary
sources (if your paper’s not close readings of related texts). You will receive feedback on your
proposals at least a week before the paper is due. Project Proposal due, Mon. Nov.5th, paper due Wed.
Nov. 19th 9 A.M. NO EXTENSIONS.
Supplementary texts provide background and/or possible texts for paper selections. Do not write
about poems we’ve already discussed in class.
Should you choose two shorter 6-8 page papers, I’m interested in your direct experience with the text
and NOT scholarship. Should you use scholarship and it’s not attributed, that’s plagiarism, and I take
plagiarism personally as a violation of trust and will deal with it seriously and institutionally.
Due dates short paper 1 wed. October 17th, short paper 2: Wed. Nov. 21st 9 AM
late papers. If you contact me by email at least 48 hours, you will be granted a one week extension
on one paper. Use the extension if you have conflicting assignments or exams in other classes.
Otherwise, Late papers will be assessed one grade penalty.
Parenthetically, I suggest at least 48 hours before due date, students e-mail me their thesis
statements for paper. I’m happy to help consult in any part of the pre-writing process, but rewrites will not be permitted.
For shorter papers, students will be allowed one extension if they give at least 48 hours advance
notice. Unexcused late papers will be penalized. I will not accept any papers after the last day of class.
Forum: Additionally, virtually every Monday by midnight (except when papers are due) students will
write two substantive paragraphs on our class forum, responding to a question that will create a
dialogue and help structure thinking about poems for class discussion. Students should respond to
one another, argue, quote freely from texts; if you respond early you might check the forums to see if
you want to supplement your earlier responses. (late respondents will find a lot of what they wanted to
say has already been said). The forums offer the opportunity for informality, risk-taking and respectful
disagreement: you will NOT be graded on how right or wrong your interpretation, but rather the
substantive and attentive way you approach the texts and comments by other students. The
responses will not be graded individually, but collectively will be worth 25% of your grade. You will
receive e-mail responses to the work if your entry seems particularly pointed or responsive, or if the
quality of work needs improvement. If you miss more than one forum response, your grade will suffer.
If your early responses don't respond sufficiently with specificity to the text, I will email you with advice
or ask you to come in for conference so I can help. Late responses, because the work will have been
discussed in class, cannot be counted.
Forum URL:
http://www.colby.edu/fusetalk/forum/?forumid=152
PLEASE CHECK TO SEE IF YOU CAN GET ON THE FORUM THIS WEEK. I.T.S. is not
available over the weekends. If you’re having trouble getting on the forum, contact ITS and me
please.
You’ll need to log on with yr Colby password: read other replies, respond to them with a reply (this is a
conversation among yourselves); suggestions; write reply on word document and cut and paste onto
forum in case your reply gets lost, as occasionally happens); the closer to the deadline you respond
the more likely what you’ve been thinking has already been said, and that will diminish the content of
your forum entry.
Grading:
Each paper counts 25% of your grade; long paper counts 50% of your grade
Forum entries/class participation 25% Final take-home paper 25%
Model Forum entry:
Question: "Lady Lazarus" teeters between the speaker's alternating sense of power and
powerlessness. What's the origin of her power, OR what's the source of her powerlessness?
I agree with both Alan and Danny. Plath's power and powerlessness in "Lady Lazarus" appear to
derive from the same source – control over her life and the effect the exercise of that control has
on others. On one hand, she feels empowered by her ability to end her own life-- "I have done it
again" or "Dying /is an art, like everything else" – and on the other hand she seems to feel
powerless about her inability to follow through with her suicide attempts for one reason or another
– "The second time I meant/ to last it out..." There is a definite sense of regret expressed at
Plath's having to wake up from her near-death. In the poem Plath uses stage imagery as both a
way of expressing her empowerment over her "audience" and her disempowerment brought on
by her suicide attempts. In one sense she becomes the spectacle, the star that people must pay
to see: "A miracle!" "For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge..." Again, on the other hand,
she realizes that there is something degrading about her performance -- "The peanut-crunching
crowd...The big strip tease" – as if she is the centerpiece in a freak show or circus for which the
audience really sets the terms. She knows that she is having an effect, but she is also beholden
to those on whom she has that effect. Or put another way, while she controls the performance,
the audience is still sovereign over its reactions. They are the Nazis, she the Jew. She can take
her life, but they can contextualize it however they want.
What that may mean, then, is that Plath's real power may not derive from her ability to take her
own life. Rather it derives from her ability somehow to rise from the dead as Lazarus did. There is
a certain security Plath seems to feel in knowing that each time she attempts to kill herself, there
is a good possibility she will be resuscitated, and it is in this security of rebirth that she tastes
power: "Out of the ash/ I rise with my red hair/ And I eat men like air." After all, the poem is titled
"Lady Lazarus," a suggestion that it may be life, or at least the triumph over death, and not death
itself that really matters, and that despite the quandary that Plath is having over whether she
wants to live or not, she suggests at the poem's end that in returning to life each time, her
resurrection empowers her even more than the taking of her life, if only because the attempt has
negated who she is and freed her: "And I eat men like air."
Laurel Gabler '06 on Plath’s “Lady Lazarus”