English 105: Approaches to Poetry (winter 2005)
Instructor: Robert Brown
Office: Divinity 38 (ext. 2397)
Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 11:30-12:30 and 2:30-3:30; Wednesday 8:30-10:00; or by
appointment
Texts:
Perrine’s Sound and Sense. 10th ed. Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson. Harcourt Brace
English 105: Approaches to Poetry. This is a booklet of photocopied poems.
Marking scheme:
First essay (1000-2000 words): 22%
Final essay (1000-2000 words): 22%
Mid-term exam: 11%
Final exam: 30%
Quizzes/discussions: 8%
Participation: 7%
Participation includes attendance and participation in discussions, whether in discussion groups
or whole-class discussions. A failure to be present for at least two-thirds of the
quizzes/discussions will result in a zero for this mark.
There is no supplemental examination in this course.
Tentative work schedule:
The titles preceded by an asterisk (*) refer to the poems in the book of photocopies. All the other
titles are in Sound and Sense, but you may have to find them using the index at the back of the
text.
The following is not a complete list. Almost certainly, additional poems will be assigned, either
in Sound and Sense or in the book of photocopies or on separate handout. For the mid-term and
final exam, you will be responsible for all the poems on the list and for any additional poems
examined in class during the course.
Jan. 11 Introduction: What Is Poetry?
from On Being with Child
“The Red Wheelbarrow”
“Terence, this is stupid stuff”
Jan. 13 Speaker and dramatic situation
Read pp.22-31, including the poems
Also: “Break of Day”
“There’s been a death in the opposite house”
Jan. 18 Speaker and dramatic situation
“My Last Duchess”
*“I being born a woman and distressed”
“The Naming of Parts”
“When my love swears she is made of truth”
Jan. 20 Imagery
Read pp. 54-57, including the poems
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
“Living in Sin”
*“Lament for the Dorsets”
Jan. 25 Imagery
“Spring”
“Pied Beauty”
“The Forge”
“Those Winter Sundays”
“The Darkling Thrush”
Jan. 27 Figurative language 1
Read pp. 67-77, including the poems
“Africa”
Feb. 1 Figurative Language 1
“Mirror”
“Metaphors”
“Toads”
*“The White House”
“Pink Dog”
Feb. 3 Mid-term exam
First essay due
Feb. 8 Figurative Language 2
Read pp. 88-98, including the poems
*”Snake”
*“The Rose Tree”
*“Peace” (the one by George Herbert, not the one by Rupert Brooke)
Feb. 10 Figurative Language 2
“Fire and Ice”
“Curiosity”
“Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers”
“Sun and Moon”
“I started Early—Took my Dog”
Feb. 15 Figurative Language 3
Read pp. 109-120, including the poems
*From Hardy’s Satires of Circumstance
Feb. 17 Figurative Language 3
“Batter my heart, three-personed God”
“The Unknown Citizen”
“Mr. Z
Also: Tone: Read pp. 155-160
Feb. 22 Tone
“Crossing the Bar”
“The Oxen”
“One dignity delays for all”
“Twas warm—at first—like us”
“The Apparition”
“The Flea”
Feb. 24 Tone
“Dover Beach”
“Church Going”
And: Allusion: Read pp. 132 (the first p. 132)-134
March 8 Allusion
“in Just—”
“On His Blindness”
“Leda and the Swan”
“Leda’s Sister and the Geese”
“Abraham to Kill Him”
* “Penelope”
*“Song of One of the Girls”
March 10 Musical Devices
Read pp. 172-179
“Blackberry Sweet”
“Woman Work”
“Edward”
March 15 Musical Devices
“Riddle”
“Nothing Gold Can Stay”
*“The Word Plum”
[ risking absurdity]
March 17 Rhythm and Meter
Read pp. 187-202
“Introduction” to Songs of Innocence
“Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries”
“The Aim Was Song”
“Old Ladies’ Home”
“Had I the Choice”
“To a Daughter Leaving Home”
[Constantly risking absurdity]
[because I could not stop for death]
[Break, break, break]
*“The Ruined Maid”
March 22 Rhythm and Meter
March 24 Pattern/Kind/Structure
Second essay due
*“The Haystack in the Floods”
“Ulysses” (67)
“To His Coy Mistress” (56)
“The Dance” (167)
“Church Going” (127)
[There’s been a death in the opposite house] (17)
*“Nude Descending a Staircase”
*“Flower in the Crannied Wall”
“The Oxen”
“The Mill” (33)
“Blackberry Sweet” (135)
“Pied Beauty” (183)
“Break of Day” (16)
[Constantly risking absurdity]
March 29 Pattern/Kind/Structure
* “Michael” (excerpt)
“I wandered lonely as a cloud” (402)
*“Daddy”
*“Flower in the Crannied Wall” (list continues on the next page)
*[Naked I came--]
*From In Memoriam A.H.H. (395)
“My Last Duchess” (127)
“Ballad of Birmingham” (13)
*“A Late Aubade”
*Paradise Lost (excerpt)
* “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”
*“Song”
March 31 Pattern/Kind/Structure
“Acquainted with the Night” (245)
“The Haystack in the Floods”
“The Waking” (176)
“Ballad of Birmingham”
“In Just—” (134)
“Out, Out—” (131)
*The Rape of the Lock (excerpt)
“My mistress’ eyes” (160)
“On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” (235)
“Sestina”
April 5 Cultural and Historical Contexts
*”Peace” (Rupert Brooke)
*“The Soldier”
“Dulce et Decorum Est”
*“My Lady’s Presence”
[My mistress’ eyes]
*“The Ruined Maid”
April 7 Cultural and Historical Contexts
“Ballad of Birmingham”
“You Are the Brave”
“May, 1968”
“Annus Mirabilis”
“Convergence of the Twain”
April 12 Whatever (but still important!)