ENGLISH 206: WRITING POETRY
T/Th 1:30-2:45pm, Oddfellows 222
Christopher Bakken
Office Hours: MW 11-1; T 12:30-1:20; W 11-1; Th 10-11
e-mail: cbakken@allegheny.edu
Office: Oddfellows 220
Tel: 332 4338
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Our word "poet" originally comes from the Greek word for "maker" or "creator." In this course we
will endeavor to remind ourselves of the materials, the conventions, the ideas, and the media out
of which poems are made. It is easy to argue that the art of creation cannot be taught; but we will
begin with the hypothesis that certain things about the craft of poetry can, in fact, be learned
through observation and imitation. Thus, we will spend a surprisingly large quotient of our time
reading poetry, finding models and tuning our ears and eyes to them, learning what we can about
their technical idiosyncrasies, memorizing their music. We will use our remaining time together
to discuss your writing, much of it in the form of exercises and assignments.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Most of the poems you write for this course will be produced under unusual and rather extreme
conditions. You will be given deadlines that will afford little time for inspiration, brooding or
procrastination. The good news is that you will be responding to assignments; this should take
some of the "creative pressure" off of you. Take these assignments very seriously (you'll certainly
learn something if you do), but also think of them as exercises, not masterpieces. Nevertheless,
we will discuss your work both as exercises and as poems. More often than not, your work may
begin to succeed in the first of those capacities, but probably not in the second. If you revise these
exercises repeatedly, and if you work hard and respond to critiques with answerable humility,
you might very well produce some poems by the semester's end.
Policy on due dates: The due dates for each poetry assignment are inflexible. Late poems will not
be discussed in workshop, nor considered outside of class by the instructor. Students who fail to
turn in poems on time will risk failing the course.
Policy on early drafts: Workshop is the proper venue for the discussion of your rough drafts. So
you learn to rely on the peers in your cohort, the instructor will not read or discuss drafts in office
hours.
Policy on editing and clean copy: Since poetry places a particular kind of pressure upon
language—by virtue of its intensity and meticulous compression—it is crucial that your poems
are edited as well as, if not even more fastidiously than your prose. Produce and submit clean
copy.
Reading & Statements of Admiration: No one can write good poetry without learning how to
read good poetry first; therefore, your other assignment this term is to become a competent,
curious, and voracious reader of poetry. Readings from the textbooks, anthologies, and the
Bishop, Barker, Beer, Brown, and Jacobs collections are important parts of that assignment.
You will submit four Statements of Admiration any time over the course of the semester, two by
October 15th and the other two by November 24th. You may write your SOAs on any poem listed
on the syllabus, or any poem found in one of the photocopy packets distributed by the professor.
SOA Guidelines: While it is easy to criticize, dispraise, and complain, learning how to praise—
and learning how to praise with specific examples and details—is a difficult skill to master. As a
reader of poetry who aspires to write poetry, you read in order to find what works, what moves
you, what sings to you, and what techniques make poetry happen. Four times this semester,
you’ll submit one Statement of Admiration (SOA). These should constitute lively, personal
responses to the material. Begin by answering this question: what single poem did you admire
most from a recent assigned reading and WHY did you admire that poem? Then consider these
other questions: What specific techniques did you admire in that poem? What about the writing
made you jealous? What do you want to steal from that poem? How does that poem represent
something you admire in other poems by the same poet? Quote from the poem and analyze what
you quote. Suggested length: one page, single spaced. You’ll include all of your SOAs in your
final portfolio.
EVALUATION & ATTENDANCE:
The grade assigned to your work in this course will depend in part on your ability to produce and
submit poems by the assigned due dates and to complete other written assignments in a timely,
professional and diligent manner. Since all creative work in this course will be considered "in
progress," you need not worry about being "graded" on the success of individual drafts. Each of
you will produce a portfolio of your poems (consisting of at least nine poems) by the end of the
term. All of those poems will be revisions of previously submitted work. Your final grade will, to a
large degree, be determined by the other elements of this final portfolio and the quality of your
final revisions. You will also be asked to provide spoken and written critiques on the work of your
peers all semester long; your participation in this activity will be considered in formulating your
final grade. And because you will benefit from coming into contact with living writers, your
attendance at the Single Voice readings is mandatory. The dates for those events are noted on
this syllabus. A written response to those readings may be required. Since the course is
organized as a workshop, attendance and class participation are also mandatory. Students who
miss more than four classes will find their grade lowered by as much as a full letter grade.
Students who miss six or more classes should not expect to pass.
TEXTS:
Under the Rock Umbrella, ed. Walsh.
Mercer UP. 9780881460476
Richard Hugo, The Triggering Town
Norton. 0 393 30933 9
Structure and Surprise, ed. Theune.
Teachers & Writers. 0 915924 27 7
Nickole Brown, Fanny Says.
BOA Editions. Paper 978-1938160578
Jessica Jacobs, Pelvis with a Distance.
White Pine Press. Paper 978-1935210665
Elizabeth Bishop, Poems.
FS & G. 9780374532369
Nicky Beer, The Octopus Game.
Carnegie Mellon. Paper. 0887485936
Brian Barker, The Black Ocean.
Southern Illinois UP. Paper. 0809330288
Christopher Bakken, Goat Funeral and After Greece (encouraged/optional)
THE PORTFOLIO:
Most of your grade for this course will be determined by the portfolio you turn in at the end of the
semester. This portfolio will consist of three items:
1) A prose "introduction" to your portfolio. This is your chance to say anything about your
performance in the course, about the poems you did and did not make. A statement of your
"aesthetic" is not necessary, but some account of what you attempted, what you succeeded in,
what you failed at, and what you learned would be appropriate here. The best of these will
exhibit remarkable self-scrutiny and depth. At the end of your introduction, you should make
note of your top peer editors in the workshop—those fellow poets whose comments were most
helpful in shaping your revisions.
2) Nine revised poems with their 'original' drafts (the draft you submitted to the class and I
returned to you with notations)
3) Four previously-submitted SOAs (the draft you submitted to the class and I returned to you
with notations), along with a one page self-evaluation of yourself as a reader of poetry this
semester. Looking back over the SOAs you turned in, as well as all the poets you encountered as
you made your way through the course, your brief self-evaluation should include some account of
what you learned about poetry by apprenticing yourself to those models.
Please submit your portfolio typed and assembled carefully in a three-ringed binder with your
name on it. No illustrations or fancy covers please. Portfolios Due: Tuesday, December 15th, 2pm.
COURSE CALENDAR:
We will work on an alternating schedule: poems will be due about every other class meeting. The
other classes will be dedicated to introducing assignments, discussing models for those
assignments, and considering prose readings. You will be required to bring enough copies (one for
each of your peers plus one for the instructor) of each assignment to class on the due date. Arrive
with these photocopies ready to be distributed! If your poem is not ready on the due date, it will
not be distributed or discussed. Texts/Poems Listed Below must be read before you arrive in
class.
August
25 First Day of Class: Course Introduction, First Assignment: "The The."
27 Read Hugo, ch. 1 & 5. Read Carolyn Forché: “The Colonel.” Read Nicky Beer, “Black Hole
Itinerary” (54) and Brian Barker “Nightmare for the Last Night on Earth” (41); “Prose to
Poetry” Exercise Distributed.
September
1 Discuss Prose to Poetry Exercise. Dictation Exercise.
3 Read Models of Assignment One (handout): what constitutes good description?
8 Models of Assignment One, cont. Read Nicky Beer, “Octopus Vulgaris” (13) and “The Burn”
(58); Read Elizabeth Bishop: “The Map” (5), “The Fish” (43), & “12 O’Clock News” (194).
In RU, read Balk, “Dear Hippopotamus” [27]; Carbo, “Tuyo” [68]; Collier, “To a
Chameleon” [70]; Doty, “Grackles on Montrose” [96]; Hollander, “California Roll” [173];
McGrath, “Snapdragons” [231]; Spires, “Snail” & “Snail, Revisited” [333-335]; Optional: in
Goat Funeral, read “The Blue Jay” and “Portrait Detail, with Pear.”
10 “The The" poems due. Assignment Two: Praise Poem. In Structure & Surprise, read ch. 2,
“The Emblem Structure”. Read Elizabeth Bishop: “Florida” (33), “The Shampoo” (82),
“Filling Station” (125), “Night City” (187), & “Pink Dog” (212). Read Brian Barker: “Poe
Climbs Down…” (17-22), “Lullaby for the Last Night on Earth” (23), “The Last Songbird”
(24) & “Silent Montage with Late Reagan…” (34-36, 66). Read Nicky Beer: “Rimbaud’s
Kraken” (39) & “Oblation” (59). Read Nickole Brown: “For Our Grandmothers” (11), “For
my Grandmother’s…. Teeth” (29), “Feet” (52), & “Gallstones” (104). In RU, read
Addonizio, “First Kiss”& “31-year-old Lover” [2]; McGrath, “Xena…” [230]; Young, “Ode to
Hangover” [427].
15 Disc. of “The The” poems.
17 Praise Poems Due. Assignment Three: Persona Poem.
Read Elizabeth Bishop: “Jeronimo’s House” (35) & “Crusoe in England” (182). Read Brian
Barker: “A Brief Oral Account of Torture…” (54-63). Read Nickole Brown: “Fanny Says….
“She Spent It” (21) & “She Got Saved” (31). Read Jessica Jacobs: “Alfred Steigletz at 291”
(21/117), “The White Place in Shadow” (91/127) & “Sky Above Clouds IV” (106/129). In
RU, read: Jenks, “Saturday Morning” [190]; Marvin, “A Windmill…” [222]; Seibles, “Jimi’s
Blues” [314]. Optional: in Goat Funeral, read; “Late Adam Thinking,” “Ariadne
(Postscript)” & “Last Words from Elpenor” & in After Greece, read "Burning the Turk" &
"At Xanthos."
22 Disc. of Praise Poems. Extra credit Brown/Jacobs close-readings due.
24 Q&A with Nickole Brown & Jessica Jacobs. Nickole Brown & Jessica Jacobs SV reading, 7pm
29 Persona Poem Due. Assignment Four: Ekphrastic poem. Read Elizabeth Bishop: “Large Bad
Picture” (13) & “The Monument” (25). Read Jessica Jacobs: “No. 8…” (26/119), “Pelvis
with Distance” (77/125), Pedernal, 1945” (81/126), The White Place in Shadow” (91/127),
& “Georgia O’Keefe, by Alfred Steigletz” (102/ 128). Read Nicky Beer: “The Floating Girl”
(17), “Catalog Note” (58), & “”Restoration Portrait” (83). Optional: in After Greece, read
“Terra Incognita” & “Landscape with Kore” & in Goat Funeral, read: “Detail from the
Martyrdom of St. Mauricio.”
October
1 Disc. of Persona poems.
6 Ekphrastic poems due. Assignment Five: Short Poem or Ironic Structure poem. In Structure
And Surprise, read ch. 1, “The Ironic Structure. Read Nickole Brown: “Fanny Says She
Knows…” (103) & “Again the Same Dream on Morphine” (115). In RU, read Alexie,
“Migration, 1902” [12]; Dove, “In the Bulrush” & “Eighth Juror” [98-99]; Espada, “DSS
Dream,” “Sheep Haiku,” & “When the Leather…” [117-118]; Rohrer, “Map of Lament”
[299]; Trinidad, “Reruns” [369]; Wiman, “A Field…” [402]; Wright, “Birthday” [416].
Optional: in Goat Funeral, read “Parenthesis” & in After Greece, read: “Behind the
Theatre, Limenas.”
8 Disc. of Ekphrastic poems.
13 Fall Break
15 No Class. Deadline for first two SOAs.
20 Short poems due. Assignment Six: Sonnet Read Elizabeth Bishop: “Some Dreams They
Forgot” (168) & “Sonnet” (214). Read Brian Barker: “Love Poem for the Last Night on
Earth” (37). Read Nicky Beer, “Frost on the Octopus” (15), “Giant Squid Caught on Film!”
(27), “Laboratory Model” (52) & “Prairie Octopus, Awake” (69). In RU, read Agoos,
“February” [6]; Barot, “Elegy” [31]; Campo, “On Valentine’s Day” [66]; Cooley, “Triage
Sonnet” [76]; Davidson, “Cockroaches” [92]; McCombs, “Stephen Bishop’s Grave” & “Cave
Mummies” [226]. Optional: in Goat Funeral, read: “The World Reduced to One Thing,”
“Purgatory, a Postcard,” “Coleridge in Valletta,” & “Last Words from Elpenor” & in After
Greece, read: “Cliff Lullaby,” “Dido,” “Melisses,” “Santorini,” & “A Concert of Ancient
Music”.
22 Disc. of short poems.
27 Gator Day
29 Sonnets due. Assignment Seven: Substructure. In Structure & Surprise, read ch. 9,
“Substructure.” Read Elizabeth Bishop: Visits to St. Elizabeth’s” (131) & “One Art” (198).
Read Brian Barker: “In the City of Fallen Rebels” (38-40) & “Field Recording, Notes from
the Machine” (47-48). Read Nickole Brown: “Fuck” (15), “Fanny Says How to be a Lady”
(43), & “Clorox” (47-52). Read Nicky Beer: “Please Indicate….” (18), “Crackpot Arctic
Octopus” (37), & “Harvard Med Field Trip” (51). In RU, read Bateman, “Poetmaster 1, 4 &
9” [32-34]; Duhamel, “Embarazar” [104]; Gylys, “Personal” [146]; Hoagland, “My Country”
[167]; McGrath, “Xena…” [230]; Jarnot, “Hound Pastoral” [187]. Optional: in Goat
Funeral, read “Minimalist Eclogue” & “Anatomy.”
November
3 Disc. of Sonnets. Extra credit Beer/Barker close-readings due.
5 Q & A with Nicky Beer & Brian Barker. Nicky Beer & Brian Barker Single Voice Reading,
7pm.
10 Substructure poems Due. Assignment Eight: Self-Portrait. Read Elizabeth Bishop: “Pink
Dog”(212). Read Nicky Beer, “Woman in a Stanza” (61) & “Restoration Portrait” (63).
Read Nickole Brown: “Go Put on Your Face” (27) & “Fanny Asks me a Question” (112).
Read Jessica Jacobs: “Self-Portrait in Abstentia” (40) & “In the Canyon IV (Reflection)”
(46). In RU, read: Gylys, “My Father’s Nightmare” [146]; Hicok, “Man of the House” [163];
Lee, “Night Mirror” [209]; Merrill, “Doppleganger” [235]. Optional: in After Greece, read
“Proteus” & “Philoctetes.” In Goat Funeral, read “Anamnesis” & “Duet with Fernando
Pessoa.”
12 Disc. of Substructure poems.
17 Self-Portrait Due. Assignment Nine: "Days of" poem. In Structure & Surprise, read ch. 4,
“The Retrospective-Prospective Structure.” In RU, read, “Girl with Blue Plastic Radio”
[229]; Roripaugh, “Loneliness” [302]; Soto, “Dizzy Girls” [327] & “The Wrestler’s Heart”
[329]; Townsend, “Mall Life” [359]; Trinidad, “Song” [366]; Weaver, “Sin, 1969” [390];
Wojahn, “Days of 1994” [410]. Optional: in Goat Funeral, read “Days of 1987.”
19 Disc. of Self-Portraits.
24 Days of..." Poem Due. Deadline for remaining SOAs. Read Elizabeth Bishop.
26 Thanksgiving
December
1 Disc. of “Days of…” poems.
3 TBD
8 TBD
Portfolios Due: Tuesday, December 15th, 2pm.