ENG 695: The Sonnet and Other Forms
Summer 2012
Dr. Eric Leuschner
Office: 376 Rarick
Office Phone: (785) 628-4229
Email: edleuschner@fhsu.edu
“A Sonnet is a moment’s monument” (Dante Gabriel Rosetti)
Course Description & Goals
Despite being an Italian invention, the sonnet is perhaps the most identifiable poetic form in the
English language. Why has this fourteen-line form become so closely associated with the very notion of poetry? How has it transformed into, in A.D. Cousins and Peter Howarth’s phrase, an “international and transcultural form”? How can we invigorate our classroom discussions of poetry, in order to demonstrate the value of formal poetry? This course aims to…
1. to define and historicize poetic forms, especially the sonnet;
2. to become familiar with different critical paradigms for viewing poetry;
3. to gain knowledge of critical and scholarly perspectives about the individual works we are reading, including their historical and literary period
Course Objectives
Students will be able to…
1. identify elements of the sonnet and other poetic forms;
2. define and apply appropriate critical terms related to literary analysis;
3. analyze literary texts from various critical approaches;
4. practice efficient and productive research skills;
5. write a critically-informed analysis of a literary text.
Texts:
A.D. Cousins and Peter Howarth, The Cambridge Companion to the Sonnet (Cambridge UP, ISBN
978-0521735537)
Annie Finch and Katherine Varnes, An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the
Diversity of their Art (U of Michigan P, ISBN 978-0472067251)
Phillis Levin, The Penguin Book of the Sonnet (Penguin, ISBN 978-0140589290)
James Longenbach, The Art of the Poetic Line (Graywolf, ISBN 978-1555974886)
Assignments
1. Attendance and Participation (20%): You are expected to attend class every day. Missing more than two class periods may result in the loss of a letter grade for the final course grade. This course is a discussion-oriented seminar, and, while I may lecture occasionally, I do expect lively and provocative discussions. Merely attending class is not enough to earn you an “A” or even a “B” in participation; you must make frequent and valuable contributions to the discussions, evidencing your thoughtful completion of the reading and viewing assignments. Such contributions can, and should, include intelligent, provocative questions as well as responses to such questions.
2. Final Exam (20%): The exam will consist of ids, passage explications, and/or essay questions. The goal will be to prove a fairly thorough knowledge of the texts and the ability to analyze and apply concepts from the course.

3. Analytical Essays and Responses (5% each plus 5% for responses; 15% total): Students will be asked to write a two short (1-2 page) analytical essays focused on a close reading of a particular poem.
The essays require no additional research and are to demonstrate the students’ close reading and analytical skills. Essays will be published on Blackboard and each students is required to respond in writing to an assigned number of essays.
4. Research Bibliography & Proposal (15%): Each student will prepare a working bibliography on their proposed research topic in addition to a brief proposal on the topic. The bibliography should be as comprehensive as possible and does not need to be annotated. Scholarly articles can be located using the MLA International Bibliography accessed through the Forsyth Library databases. Additional sources may be found through Forsyth Catalog or World Cat. The bibliography and proposal will be due at the beginning of the fourth week.
5. Research Essay (30%): For the research paper, you can choose to write on one sonnet, a sonnet sequence, or the sonnets of one author. The essay should be critically informed, and not just a close reading. For undergraduate students, the research essay should be 6-10 pages and incorporate a minimum of 3-4 secondary sources; for graduate degree seeking students, it should be 12-20 pages and incorporate a minimum of 5-6 secondary sources. Both should make an original argument, demonstrate appropriate analytical skills relating to the texts, and use correct MLA documentation. Sources should be from scholarly books and academic journals (available online through library databases), and the majority should be relatively recent (last 15-20 years). Essays must be submitted through
SafeAssignment by the due date. For those in the summer MA program, the research essay is due by
December 15, 2012; students should communicate with the professor about the paper until its satisfactory completion.
Academic Integrity
As a literary scholar, you are participating in a wide-ranging (both temporal and geographic) conversation with other scholars. While it is important to assert your own part in the conversation, it is imperative to credit the other interlocutors properly, both in written work and verbal work. Bringing another critic’s argument to bear on class discussion is reasonable and even encouraged, but you must provide credit. You should also consider where you stand in relation to that critic—you don’t have to agree. Plagiarism on any part of an assignment will result in failing the assignment and possibly the course. See the University Catalog for additional explanation.
Disability Statement
Students with disabilities who may need classroom adjustments or auxiliary aids and services should contact me as soon as possible in order to make the necessary arrangements.

Tentative Course Schedule.
Students are expected to read all texts, including the Levin anthology, before class begins. Students must read James Longenbach’s Art of the Poetic Line before day one.
Week 1
Poetic Form (Longenbach; Finch & Varnes, Introduction and Part I)
The Sonnet (Introduction to Levin)
Italian Sonnets (Kennedy*)
English Renaissance Sonnets (Bates & Cousins*)
Week 2
Early Modern Sonnets (Wilcox*); Eighteenth Century Sonnets (White*)
Romantic Sonnets (O’Neill*); Victorian Sonnets (Campbell*)
Modern Sonnets (Howarth*)
Contemporary Sonnets (Burt*)
Week 3
Heroic Couplets; Terza Rima; Quatrain (essays in Finch & Varnes)
Sapphics; Ottava Rima; Ballads
Sestina; Villanelle
Ghazal; Pantoum
(essays in Finch & Varnes)
(essays in Finch & Varnes)
(essays in Finch & Varnes)
Week 4
Haiku; Renku; Low Coup; Lushi; Jueju (essays in Finch & Varnes**)
Blues; HipHop; Rap (essays in Finch & Varnes)
Found poetry; List Poems; Oulipian Poetry
Exam
*essay in Cousins & Howarth, The Cambridge Companion to the Sonnet . Selected poems from Levin will also be assigned.
** handouts provided for lushi and jueju forms