Seminar: Modern Poetry
ENGL 501
TuTh 7:00-9:45
HH 341
Dr. Michael Waters
Office: 360 HH
Hours: TuTh 8:00-9:30
& by appointment
Text:
MODERN POEMS. Ellmann and O’Clair, eds. Second Edition. Norton. 1989.
Objectives:
—to become familiar with the origins and major characteristics of American modernism;
—to examine poetry that reflects the development of the American literary tradition
during the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century;
—to understand how ideologies and debates (about gender, race, class, national culture,
religious culture, sexualities) germane to this period inform the thematic and formal
qualities of various modern works;
—to discuss poetry with authority and precision by honing a critical vocabulary that
acknowledges form as well as content;
Writing Across the Curriculum requirements will be met with the short papers and the
analysis paper.
Grading:
Quizzes 25%
In-class exams: short paper: October 10 25%
short paper: November 14 25%
Analysis paper: due no later than 7:00 p.m. on December 5:
specific details forthcoming 25%
Participation (mandatory—grade may be lowered due to lack of participation)
Exams: Your answers must contain specific and substantial reference to the poems under
discussion.
I’ll be pleased to discuss your progress in the course with regard to your final grade at
any time during the semester.
Academic Integrity
The English Department takes plagiarism, the unacknowledged use of other people’s
ideas, very seriously indeed. As outlined in The Student Handbook and Directory under
the “Policy on Student Academic Integrity,” plagiarism may receive such penalties as
failure on a paper or failure in the course. The English Department recognizes that
plagiarism is a very serious offense and instructors make their decisions regarding
sanctions accordingly.
Each of the following constitutes plagiarism:
1. Turning in as your own work a paper or part of a paper that anyone other than you wrote. This would
include but is not limited to work taken from another student, from a published author or from an Internet
contributor.
2. Turning in a paper that includes unquoted and / or undocumented passages someone else wrote.
3. Including in a paper someone else’s original ideas, opinions, or research results without attribution.
4. Paraphrasing without attribution.
5. Turning the same paper in for credit in more than one class.
A few changes in wording do not make a passage your property. As a precaution, if you
are in doubt, cite the source. Moreover, if you have gone to the trouble to investigate
secondary sources, you should give yourself credit for having done so by citing those
sources in your essay and by providing a list of Works Cited or Works Consulted at the
conclusion of the essay. In any case, failure to provide proper attribution could result in a
severe penalty and is never worth the risk.
Additional considerations:
Type your analysis paper and use MLA format. A late paper will be penalized as much as one
letter grade for each day late. Failure to turn in the paper or to take either exam is grounds for
failing the course. Except in cases of lingering illness, to be eligible for a C you may not have
more than 1 unexcused absence. If you will miss a class due to illness, please phone me [#5436540] prior to class. If I haven’t heard from you and you are not present in class, you will be
counted absent. Unexcused absences will affect your final grade. Do not schedule any other
appointments during class time. You are expected to arrive on time and to stay for the entire
class period. Make sure you bring all necessary materials to class. You may not share textbooks
with your colleagues. If you come to class without the text, you will be counted absent. Xeroxes
are acceptable. Turn off cell phones before class begins and keep them stored away, out of sight,
for the entire class period. Remove hats and sunglasses. Do not eat during class. Quizzes will be
given regularly on the reading assignments and the related vocabulary. The assignments are
short, so you need to go over each poem several times, until you have it almost memorized. There
are no make up quizzes. If you miss a class due to illness, and have phoned me [#543-6540] prior
to class, you will not be penalized. If I have not heard from you and you are not present for a
quiz, you will receive a 0 for that quiz. If you arrive late and a quiz is in progress, you may take
the quiz. If you arrive after the quiz has been collected, you will receive a 0 for that quiz. If you
miss an exam due to illness, and have phoned me [#543-6540] prior to class, I will schedule a
make-up exam for you. If I have not heard from you and you are not present for the exam, you
will receive an F for the course.
Please make every effort to attend the poetry readings this semester.
Schedule:
August
29 Introduction
September 5 Whitman: Song of Myself 1-14, 46-52; Dickinson: #49, 249, 258, 341,
465, 72, 986, 1732
12 Frost: Mending Wall, After Apple-Picking, Acquainted with the Night
19 Frost: Birches, Design, Desert Places
[Richard Jackson reads on Thursday, 21st, at 8:00 p.m. in Montgomery Room/Commons]
26 Williams: The Red Wheelbarrow, The Young Housewife, The Dance,
The Ivy Crown
October
3 Williams: The Great Figure, The Widow’s Lament in Springtime, Spring
and All, Burning the Christmas Greens, This Is Just to Say
[Michael Waters reads on Thursday, 5th, at 8:00 p.m. in the Great Hall in Holloway Hall]
10 exam
17 McKay: If We Must Die, America, The Harlem Dancer, The White City
[handout]
[David Wojahn reads on Wednesday, 18th, at 8:00 p.m. in Montgomery Room/Commons]
24 Pound: The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter, In a Station of the Metro;
H.D.: Sea Rose, Oread
31 Moore: The Fish, Poetry, A Grave; Cummings: i sing of Olaf glad and big,
my father moved through dooms of love
November 7 Eliot: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock; The Waste Land
14 exam
21 Ginsberg: Howl I; Lowell: Skunk Hour; Brooks: A Song in the Front
Yard, The Lovers of the Poor
28 Bishop: One Art; Plath: Daddy, Lady Lazarus;
December
5 presentations [analysis paper due]
Analysis paper [due December 5]:
Choose one book of poetry by a reputable poet or by an emerging poet published by a
reputable press in 2006. You should make your final choice and have it approved no
later than November 7.
Your paper should consist of a review of the book in terms of the tenets of modernism
as filtered through the work of one modernist poet discussed this semester: Frost,
Williams, McKay, Pound, H.D. Moore, Cummings, or Eliot.
Make specific reference to poems by both poets as you draw connections between the
contemporary and the modern. Keep your emphasis, however, on the book under review.
Length: 4-6 pages, double-spaced.
On December 5, you will give a well-prepared but brief oral presentation (10-15 minutes)
based on your review, but allowing yourself a wider range of reference.
No one may use a book already chosen by a colleague. Here are some possible choices:
Robin Becker. Domain of Perfect Affection. Pittsburgh. 2006.
Michael Collier. Dark Wild Realm. Houghton Mifflin. 2006.
Martha Collins. Blue Front. Graywolf. 2006.
Robert Creeley. On Earth. California. 2006.
Stephen Dunn. Everything Else in the World. Norton. 2006.
Carol Frost. The Queen’s Desertion. TriQuarterly/Northwestern. 2006.
Louise Gluck. Averno. Farrar Straus. 2006.
Linda Gregg. In the Middle Distance. Graywolf. 2006.
Kimiko Hahn. The Narrow Road to the Interior. Norton. 2006.
Terrance Hayes. Wind in a Box. Penguin. 2006.
William Heyen. The Confessions of Doc Williams. Etruscan. 2006.
Galway Kinnell. Strong Is Your Hold. Houghton Mifflin. 2006.
Deena Linett. Woman Crossing a Field. BOA Editions. 2006.
Malena Morling. Astoria. Pittsburgh. 2006.
Mary Oliver. Thirst. Beacon. 2006.
Carl Phillips. Riding Westward. Farrar Straus. 2006.
W.D. Snodgrass. Not for Specialists. BOA Editions. 2006.
Mark Strand. Man and Camel. Knopf. 2006.
Nathasha Trethewey. Native Guard. Houghton Mifflin. 2006.
David Wojahn. Interrogation Palace. Pittsburgh. 2006.
Charles Wright. Scar Tissue. Farrar Straus. 2006.