English 371:
Contemporary Poetry
Dr. Mara Scanlon
Fall 2010
Combs 331
TR 9:30
Ext. 1544
Combs 111
mscanlon@umw.edu
Office hours: MWF 12:00-1:00 (pre-Labor Day, 8:00-9:00 a.m.)
TR 11:00-12:00
and by appointment
“If there were no poetry on any day in the world, poetry would be invented that day.
For there would be an intolerable hunger.”
--Muriel Rukeyser
Course Description
“Contemporary Poetry” is a term commonly used to refer to poetry written after 1945. By no
means does the date provide a clear breaking point by which to categorize writers; indeed, many
“Modern” writers (where “Modernism” is defined as the literary movement roughly of the first
half of the 20th century) were publishing major works well into the 1960s, casting a long shadow
under which writers of subsequent generations struggled to define themselves. Part of our work
in this course will be understanding how contemporary poets delineated themselves from their
precursors, seeking, for instance, to crack the impersonal voice of Eliotic modernism and imagist
poetry or to challenge the New Critical idea of the well-wrought and independent poem in favor
of messier, organic, dynamic forms and engaged politics. Like most people who have lived
during this time, the poets we study have been deeply affected by World War II and the
unthinkable, unbearable power of the atom bomb; the horror of, and crisis of humanity caused
by, the Holocaust; Vietnam’s violence and the attendant domestic unrest; the social upheavals of
the feminist movement, civil rights movements, and LGBTQ movements; AIDS; the mindboggling pace and ability of technology; the continued flexibility and challenges of a globalized
or postnational economy and politics; 9-11 and other terrorism; post- and neo-colonialityto
name just some of the major events and forces in our chaotic time. More than many, perhaps,
they face also what some have seen as a crisis of language: how can language suffice to express,
for instance, the violations and terror of a concentration camp? Can it redeem us in any way?
Can women, ethnic minorities, or homosexuals use a language saturated with histories and
powers from which they have been excluded—and if not, what then? Is the purpose of language
even finally transactional? Who and what is poetry for? In this course, as we too consider these
questions, we will immerse ourselves in some of the voices, rhythms, words, and sounds that
have emerged in the last sixty years.
This course will develop in two primary places: the collaborative classroom and our blog, which
can be found at http://copof10.umwblogs.org . We will also be in partnership with Professor
Emerson’s poetry workshop in hosting visiting writer Jon Pineda, so clear your calendars for
October 14.
Required Texts
Bishop, Elizabeth. The Complete Poems 1927-1979.
Brooks, Gwendolyn. Selected Poems.
Clifton, Lucille. Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000.
Ginsberg, Allen. Howl and Other Poems and Kaddish and Other Poems.
Pineda, Jon. The Translator’s Diary. PROVIDED
Plath, Sylvia. The Collected Poems.
Walcott, Derek. Selected Poems. (Ed. Edward Baugh)
Pdf items from the blog.
Course Requirements
Reading
You are going to read, read, read. You are going to be saturated with poetry. Live in it and keep
up with us. Period. If you’ve never believed before that you need to read a poem more than
once and aloud, begin now.
Poetry Daily
Subscribe to the weekly email newsletter, download the app, follow on Twitter, join on
Facebook, or just make the website your homepage. However you get it, begin to tune in to the
poem of the day here: http://poems.com/
Participation (15 pts. oral + 15 pts. free blogging =30 pts.)
This is a course centered on discussion of poetry and its success relies on active class
participation. At a minimum, I expect you to have excellent attendance, to arrive and leave on
time, to have done assigned readings carefully before class, to turn in your work on time, to bring
the necessary materials and texts, to listen respectfully to me and to your classmates, and to
participate in all class activities. This will earn you a grade of a C for class participation. You
may earn a grade above the average by, for example, consistently offering thought-provoking,
challenging, and honest responses to the poetry (and remember that asking good questions is as
or more important than having answers!), engaging in meaningful dialogue with your classmates
as well as with me, or, when necessary, providing leadership in small group sessions. Obviously,
you cannot add to the class discussion if you are not present, so attendance is a must. Excessive
absences will substantially hurt the portion of your grade based on participation.
The class discussion time will be augmented by discussion on our multiuser class blog
(http://copof10.umwblogs.org), which is a space to discuss or respond to our assigned readings
or to share resources. Your posts may vary depending on the text we are studying: they may be
strong personal responses to something you read (which is fully acceptable, but do remember
that this is a public forum, not a diary); extensions of, reflections on, or rebuttals to something
we discussed in class; thesis-driven arguments that analyze a poem or portion thereof; thoughtful
reflections on important themes, the author’s purposes, the formal aspects of the text, etc.;
comparisons between what you are reading and prior works of this course, our early theoretical
readings, or other texts; responses to prompts and questions that I or others post; creative work or
interesting links; or something else altogether that you are driven to write or post.
In any case, blogging should be a record of your active, sophisticated response to our
assignments AND to your classmates. Thoughtful comments on the posts of others are as or
more valuable than new posts because they promote richer dialogue. Naturally, this will include
comments on posts of graded material such as the multimedia reports.
Participation, both oral and blogging, is heavily weighted in this course because it gives you the
opportunity to take initiative and to engage on your own terms with the course material, and it
encourages a model of learning that is collaborative and fluid. Participation will be assessed for
frequency and quality.
Formal Analysis/Prosody Paper (15 pts.)
I will post more details for this assignment at a later time, including some resources you may use
in completing the paper. It is about 4 pages in length and will require you to discuss not only
what a poem’s form is, but also what it means. You will do scansion. Stop fussing and learn to
love it.
Interpretive Performance (10 pts. oral and 5 pts. written = 15 pts.)
Poetry has been an oral/aural art form for centuries, and this assignment will build on that
history by offering you the opportunity to be creative in your oral interpretation of a literary text.
All the words you speak for this assignment will be someone else’sthat is, the words will come
directly from the poetry on our syllabus. Your contribution will be in the way you use your
voice (e.g., your inflection, expression, or tone) and your body language to interpret those words
for us. The assignment will help you work on isolating the oral expression of such things as
emotion, situation, speaker, or purpose—or, in the case of some of our more difficult texts, even
on using oral interpretation to clarify meaning. You may read your text. Each student should
prepare to speak for 4-5 minutes. I will cut you off after 5 minutes, which may affect your grade.
Before you begin your interpretation, you (or someone in your group) should announce the
author and page number(s) of your poem(s).
As indicated above, you may choose to do this assignment either individually or in pairs
or a small group. If you worked in a group of two or three, you might find ways to link a series
of poems or interpret passages multivocally. Each member of the group should speak for about
an equal amount of time and the presentation as a whole should be, as appropriate, two or three
times longer than an individual presentation would be. The grades for a group performance will
be individualized but may be affected by overall group decisions (such as choice of poem).
As the course schedule indicates, we will have these presentations during three class
periods of the semester. You will sign up for one of the three dates (with a limited number of
slots available for each) well in advance. The choice you make will also affect your choice of
authors. However, there is no limit to the number of students who might interpret any of the
appropriate texts on a given day (that is, it is okay if every student on one presentation day does
the same poet from the given choices or even the same poem).
On the day you are scheduled to perform, you will also submit a written component for
the assignment of about 750 words that is essentially an explication of your planned
performance. In this short paper, you will explain your choice of poem(s) (what made the one
you chose particularly ripe for interpretation?) and explain what elements of the poem you
decided to focus on (e.g., the speaker’s emotions, the situation, the rhythm of the language), what
your analysis/interpretation is of those elements, and how you hope to convey it orally/bodily.
Collaborative Multimedia Report on Poetic Movements (20 pts.)
For this assignment, you will work in groups of about three, which will be established
within the first weeks of class. Each group will be charged with becoming our resident experts
on a certain contemporary poetic movement, using outside resources (poetry, websites,
manifestos and essays by participants, histories of literature, criticism, appropriate cultural or
sociopolitical background, perhaps bios of major figures, etc.). I strongly encourage you to focus
less on the biographies of individual poets, except where the information is germane, and more
on the poetry and aesthetic values of the group and the cultural/artistic contexts for their work.
Rather than being submitted in traditional paper format, the projects will be posted to the
class blog. The purpose here is twofold: to make the information easily available to all
classmates in the spirit of collaborative learning, and to make use of the blog’s multimedia
capabilities. Though the reports will include substantial (about 1000 words) explanatory
text, they must also use images, video, audio, links, or other methods to enrich and support
the traditional scholarship. College-level, appropriate research is the heart of your project.
The project must include citations (for all material) and a bibliography of all sources in
MLA format so I can see your research and classmates can explore further if they want to.
Poetry on the Web Project (15 pts.)
When we consider whether poetry is alive and/or how it reaches an audience today, we obviously
must learn to grapple with its presence on the internet. For this project, you will use some of the
more established sites online to analyze what they tell us about poetry: Is there a type of poetry
they favor? Who seems to be the target audience? What arguments do they present, tacitly or
explicitly, about what poetry is or should be or about poetry’s purpose? This project gives you a
lot of leeway, in that you may define your own research question/focus and choose which of the
following sites you wish to use. (If you want to request an alternative site, it must be approved
by me first and well in advance.) My interest is in having you explore the sites, analyze the
available material in a way that is 1) focused enough to be productive and specific, and 2) well
informed by the knowledge you have gained in our course. Then you will write a formal
argument/analysis that has a strong thesis, makes use of detailed evidence, and is clearly
organized and well written. The paper will be five pages; I encourage you to post shorter,
particularly interesting, chunks of it to the blog to share with your classmates.
 Poetry Daily’s archive gives you access to a year’s worth of daily featured poems, a rich
archive of prose writing (reviews, essays), a “news” section from the world of poetry, and
a series by contemporary poets discussing favorite poems from the past:
http://poems.com/archive.php
 Poetry Speaks includes a wide array of poets, including Spoken Word, has a blog called
PoetryMatters, offers multimedia access (at some cost), and promotes itself as a
collaborative venture: https://www.poetryspeaks.com/
 Poets.org, under the tab Poets & Poetry, has a deep archive of poems, including audio
and video, and a section of reviews, definitions, essays on poetry, and more under Essays
& Interviews (including information on various poetic movements):
http://poets.org/index.php
 PennSound includes a blog (PennSound Daily), links to numerous other multimedia
poetry sites, and a very large collection of audio/video interviews and readings under its
various tabs: http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/
Final Recitation (5 pts.)
For your final, you will need to memorize at least 14 contiguous lines of poetry. You will recite
them to the class during our exam period. You will not do so in a monotone or as if you are
speed-reading prose.
Policies and Expectations
 Written work must be turned in/posted at the beginning of class on the due date to be
considered on time. You should contact me as soon as possible if you anticipate a
problem with a due date to discuss an extension. Late work will be penalized. I do NOT
accept work by email.
 You must complete all major work in the course to pass. As College policy makes clear,
grades of B and A are reserved for commendable and excellent work.
 A note on academic misconduct: Plagiarism means presenting another person's work as
your own--whether that person is a friend, writing center tutor, or published author. You
can avoid this offense if you simply cite and reference the source you use, if any. I am
quite willing to help you understand strategies for quotation and citation but I am not
willing to be lenient on plagiarism. In every aspect of the course and at all times, I
expect you to adhere to the Honor Code of Mary Washington.
 The Office of Disability Resources has been designated by the University as the primary
office to guide, counsel, and assist students with disabilities. If you receive services
through the Office of Disability Resources and require accommodations for this class,
make an appointment with me as soon as possible to discuss your approved
accommodation needs. Bring your accommodation letter with you to the appointment. I
will hold any information you share with me in strictest confidence unless you give me
permission to do otherwise. If you have not made contact with the Office of Disability
Resources and need accommodations (note taking assistance, preferential seating, etc.), I
will be happy to help you. The office will require appropriate documentation of
disability. Their phone number is 540-654-1266.
Provisional Course Schedule
All readings should be done before class on the day assigned. Assignments give full page
numbers.
Week 1
T Aug. 24
R Aug. 26
Week 2
T Aug. 31
R Sept. 2
Week 3
T Sept. 7
R Sept. 9
Week 4
T Sept. 14
R Sept. 16
Week 5
T Sept. 21
R Sept. 23
Introductions
Tech training with The Reverend. Bring your laptops!!
Essays from the blog by Lewis, Brooker, Rich, Lorde, Gioia, and Heaney.
Bishop: “The Map” (3); “From the Country to the City” (13); “The ManMoth” (14-15); “Love Lies Sleeping” (16-17); “The Unbeliever” (22);
“The Monument” (23-25); “The Fish” (42-44); “Over 2,000 Illustrations
and a Complete Concordance” (57-59); “At the Fishhouses” (64-66);
“Some Dreams They Forgot” (146)
Bishop: all selections from Questions of Travel (89-135)
Bishop: all selections from Geography III (159-181)
Ginsberg: in Howl: Williams’ intro to “Howl” (7-8); “Howl” (9-26);
“Footnote to Howl” (27-28)
Multimedia report on The Beats due.
Ginsberg: “Kaddish for Naomi Ginsberg” (Kaddish 7-36).
Multimedia report on Black Arts due.
Brooks: “kitchenette building” (3); “the mother” (4-5); “hunchback girl:
she thinks of heaven” (5-6); “the preacher: ruminates behind the sermon”
(8); “Sadie and Maud” (8-9); “of De Witt Williams on his way to Lincoln
Cemetery” (10); “The Sundays of Satin-Legs Smith” (12-18); “the white
troops had their orders but the Negroes looked like men” (25-26); “love
note I: Surely” (27-28); “love note II: flags” (28); “the progress” (28);
“’pygmies are pygmies still, though percht on Alps’Edward Young”
(37).
Brooks: “The Anniad” (37-49); “A Bronzeville Mother Loiters . . .” (7580); “The Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till” (81)
Week 6
T Sept. 28
R Sept. 30
Brooks: “the children of the poor” #s 1 (52), 2 (53), 3 (53), “the rites for
Cousin Vit” (58), “I love those little booths at Benvenuti’s” (59-60); “The
Bean Eaters” (72); “We Real Cool” (73); “Mrs. Small” (82-84); “Jessie
Mitchell’s Mother” (85-86); “The Lovers of the Poor” (90-93); “Boy
Breaking Glass” (blog); “The Blackstone Rangers” (blog)
Performances on Bishop or Ginsberg
Week 7
T Oct. 5
R Oct. 7
Formal Analysis/Prosody papers due. Pineda, pages 3-18
Pineda, pages 20-57
Week 8
T Oct. 12
R Oct. 14
Fall Break
**Pineda class visit**
********JON PINEDA READING/BOOK-SIGNING********
Week 9
T Oct. 19
R Oct. 21
Week 10
T Oct. 26
Multimedia report on Confessional Poetry due.
Plath: “The Disquieting Muses” (74-76); “Full Fathom Five” (92-93);
“Two Views of a Cadaver Room” (114); “The Colossus” (129-130);
“Mushrooms” (139-140); “Zoo Keeper’s Wife” (154-55); “Little Fugue”
(187-89); “The Munich Mannequins” (262-63); “Balloons” (271-72);
“Kindness” (269-270); “Edge” (272-73)
Plath: “Morning Song” (156-57); “The Couriers” (247); “The Rabbit
Catcher” (193-94); “Thalidomide” (252); “The Applicant” (221-22);
“Barren Woman” (157); “Lady Lazarus” (244-47); “Tulips” (160-62); “A
Secret” (219-220); “The Jailor” (226-27); “Cut” (235-36); “Elm” (19293); “The Night Dances” (249-250); “The Detective” (208-09); “Ariel”
(239-240); “Death & Co.” (254-55); “Magi” (148); “Lesbos” (227-230);
“The Other” (201-02); “Stopped Dead” (230)
Plath: “Poppies in October” (240); “The Courage of Shutting-Up” (209210); “Nick and the Candlestick” (240-42); “Berck-Plage” (196-201);
“Gulliver” (251); “Getting There” (247-49); “Medusa” (224-26); “Purdah”
(242-44); “The Moon and the Yew Tree” (172-73); “A Birthday Present”
(206-09); “Letter in November” (253-54); “Amnesiac” (232-33); “The
Rival” (166-67); “Daddy” (222-24); “You’re” (141); “Fever 103°” (23132); “The Bee Meeting” (211-12); “The Arrival of the Bee Box” (212-13);
“Stings” (214-15); “Wintering” (217-19)
R Oct. 28
Week 11
T Nov. 2
R Nov. 4
Week 12
T Nov. 9
R Nov. 11
Week 13
T Nov. 16
R Nov. 18
Multimedia reports on the New York and Black Mountain poets due.
Clifton: “telling our stories” (109); “fox” (110); “the coming of fox”
(111); “dear fox” (112); “leaving fox” (113); “one year later” (114); “a
dream of foxes” (115); “lumpectomy eve” (117); “slaveships” (121);
“memory” (124); “heaven” (127); “song at midnight” (87); “the yeti poet
returns to his village to tell his story” (89); “if i should” (92); “further note
to clark” (93); “final note to clark” (94); “note, passed to superman” (95);
“leda 1” (96); “leda 2” (97); “leda 3” (98)
Clifton: “quilting” (59); “white lady” (60); “the birth of language” (62);
“peeping tom” (65); “wild blessings” (66); “poem to my uterus” (69); “to
my last period” (70); “wishes for sons” (71); “How art thou fallen…” (72);
“remembering the birth of lucifer” (73); “whispered to lucifer” (74);
“eve’s version” (75); “lucifer understanding at last” (76); “the garden of
delight” (77); “adam thinking” (78); “eve thinking” (79); “the story thus
far” (80); “lucifer speaks in his own voice” (81); “my dream about being
white” (41); “my dream about the cows” (42); “my dream about time”
(43); “my dream about falling” (44); “my dream about the second
coming” (45); “my dream about God” (46); “ my dream about the poet”
(47); “the death of thelma sayles” (48); “the message of thelma sayles”
(50); “the times” (13); “signs” (14); “moonchild” (15); “donor” (17);
“libation” (18); “the photograph: a lynching” (19); “praise song” (23);
“study the masters” (25); “lazarus (first day)” (26); “lazarus (second day)”
(27); “lazarus (third day)” (28)
Performances on Brooks, Plath, or Pineda
Multimedia reports on New Formalism and L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E
poetry due.
Walcott: “As John to Patmos” (4); “A Far Cry From Africa” (6); “Return
to “D’Ennery; Rain” (14-15); “The Castaway” (21-22); “Mass Man” (43);
“The Gulf” (45); “Landfall, Grenada” (53); “Homecoming: Anse La
Raye” (54-55); “Sea Grapes” (97); “Adam’s Song” (98); “The Cloud”
(99); “Volcano” (116-17); “Midsummer, Tobago” (119); “Oddjob, a Bull
Terrier” (120-21) ; “The Sea is History” (137-39)
Walcott: “The Schooner Flight” (127-136); “Europa” (149); “Early
Pompeian” (156-160); “Night Fishing” (188); “Elsewhere” (189-190);
“The Arkansas Testament” (197-209)
Walcott: selections from Omeros (213-243)
Poetry on the Web projects due. Slam Poetry
Week 14
T Nov. 23
R Nov. 25
Slam Poetry
Thanksgiving Day
Week 15
T Nov. 30
R Dec. 2
Performances on Clifton or Walcott
Course wrap-up
Final Exam period: Tuesday, December 7, 8:30-11:00