STUDIES IN POETRY
EN131.04
CONTACT INFORMATION
Instructor: Emma Perry
Contact: perryem@bc.edu (I will do my best to respond within 48 hours)
Class Meetings: MWF 11:00-11:50am in Carney 003
Office: Carney 241
Office Hours: Wednesdays 12-1pm and by appointment
ABOUT THIS COURSE
Welcome to Studies in Poetry! The English Department states, “the goals of this course are close reading of
poetry, developing the students’ ability to ask questions that open poems to analysis, and writing lucid
interpretive papers.” We will do this, but hopefully we will do much more. We will do some concrete
things: learn how to identify and talk about metrical structures, rhyme schemes, literary devices, etc. We
will read poems ranging from ancient Greek epic to contemporary post-9/11 poetry. We will do some less
concrete things, too. I will work with you as you develop your own critical lens, gain comfort living with
ambiguity, and figure out what role poetry can play in your own life, and not just in the academic
classroom. Some of the questions we will return to throughout the semester: How do we define a poem?
Who determines what is poetry and what isn’t? Why does poetry matter? To what extent can poetry affect
our world?
MATERIALS
 The Making of a Poem, ed. Mark Strand and Eavan Boland. Available at the BC bookstore and for
purchase on Amazon.com for less than $7
 The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday. On reserve at O’Neill and available for purchase on
Amazon.com for less than $5
 Notebook or folder to organize handouts and class notes
NB: You MUST print out any assigned readings that are not in your book from BBV and have them with
you in hard copy for class discussion. If you do not have your materials, you will be marked absent. To
really engage with a poem, you need to have it in front of you.
POLICIES
Attendance
You are permitted one unexcused absence. Each unexcused absence after the first will affect your grade. All
other absences should be excused, which includes a valid illness or personal emergency. Let me know in
advance if you will be missing class and bring either a note from the Health Center or a Dean’s Excuse to
our next meeting. A few excused absences will not adversely affect your grade. However, if you miss five
or more classes for any reason, your final grade will be dropped by a third of a letter grade at my discretion.
Late Arrivals
We only have 50 minutes together each class session. Please be ready to start when class begins. You may
have one late arrival (up to ten minutes late), but two or more late arrivals will affect your grade.
Late Assignments
Your papers should be uploaded to Blackboard by the day stipulated on the syllabus by class time. Every day
an assignment is late will lower your grade five percentage points. After five days, your paper will no longer
be accepted and you will take a zero on the assignment. I sometimes allow extensions depending on
circumstances and how far in advance you approach me about the extension, but this is not a guarantee.
Academic Integrity
Here is the link to Boston College’s Academic Integrity policy:
http://www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/academic/resources/policy.html#integrity
Academic Integrity includes refraining from cheating (the fraudulent or dishonest presentation of work),
plagiarism (the act of taking the words, ideas, data, illustrations, or statements of another person or source,
and presenting them as one's own), and collusion (assistance or an attempt to assist another student in an act
of academic dishonesty). Any breach of this policy, including the submission of papers written for previous
or concurrent classes, is grounds for failure of the assignment, a zero in class participation, and notification
of the Dean.
Electronics
Silence your phones and put them in your bag. Take off your headphones. Obviously, there is no texting in
class. Don’t try to do it under the desk. If you use a computer to take notes, I reserve the right to ask you to
turn it around to make sure you’re not actually updating your status on facebook. Check your BC email
regularly – this is how I will contact you.
Assignments, Deadlines, and Grade Breakdown
1. Oxford English Dictionary paper, 2-3 pages (10%)
Due January 27
2. Close-reading of a Shakespeare sonnet, 3-4 pages (10%)
Due February 8
3. An original sonnet with 1-2 page process reflection (5%)
Due February 17
4. In-class midterm (10%)
February 29
5. Close-reading of a poem of your choice, 3-4 pages (15%)
Due March 23
6. Critical lens application paper, 5-6 pages (20%)
Due May 2
7. Group poem presentations, 15 minutes (5%)
8. Memorized recitation of a poem with 1-2 page process reflection (5%)
9. In-class final (10%)
April 30
10. Participation, including attendance at Billy Collins reading (10%)
Reading: March 1 in Gasson 100 at 7pm
SYLLABUS
W 1.18
Whitman “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” (BBV), Hoagland “I Have News For You” (BBV)
In-class handout: “What Is Poetry?” from Writing Metrical Poetry pp. 2-4
F 1.20
“Meter” (MOAP pp. 159-164), Poe “The Raven” (BBV), listen to Basil Rathbone’s reading of “The Raven”
(BBV)
In-class handouts: “Chapter 2: Meter” from Writing Metrical Poetry pp. 18-24, Emma’s meter handout
M 1.23
Shakespeare excerpt from Hamlet “To be, or not to be” and “Hamlet” reading from Writing Metrical Poetry pp.
11-17 (BBV)
Practice scansion in-class
W 1.25
Dickinson “I Died For Beauty” (MOAP p. 145, pp. 154-8), “Hope is the Thing With Feathers” (BBV), “Tell
All The Truth But Tell It Slant” (BBV)
In-class handouts: Emma’s rhyme handout
Quiz on meter
F 1.27 Sonnets
Shakespeare sonnet 18 (MOAP p. 59), Spenser sonnet 75 (BBV)
Oxford English Dictionary Paper #1 DUE
M 1.30
Shakespeare sonnet 130 (BBV), Sidney Astrophil and Stella 9 (BBV)
Quiz on rhyme
W 2.1
Donne “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners” (MOAP p. 61), “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning”
(BBV)
F 2.3
Wyatt “They Flee From Me” (MOAP p. 142), St. Vincent Millay “What My Lips Have Kissed” (MOAP p.
64, pp. 71-72)
M 2.6
Group presentations #1
W 2.8
NO CLASS – work on your original sonnets!
Close-reading of a Shakespeare sonnet DUE
F 2.10
Frost “Directive” (MOAP p. 113, pp. 119-120), “Blank Verse” (MOAP pp. 101-104)
M 2.13
Marlowe excerpt from Tamburlaine (MOAP p. 105), Shakespeare excerpt from Julius Caesar (MOAP p. 106)
W 2.15
Paradise Lost Book 1 excerpt (BBV), Paradise Lost excerpt (MOAP p. 107)
F 2.17
Paradise Lost Book 4 excerpt (BBV), Lanyer “Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women” (BBV)
Original Sonnet and Process Reflection DUE
M 2.20
The Iliad translation readings (BBV), Mitchell “Found in Translation” (BBV), Keats “On First Looking Into
Chapman’s Homer” (BBV)
W 2.22
Tennyson “Ulysses” (MOAP p. 110), “The Lotos-Eaters” (BBV), Bloom “Introduction” from The Anxiety of
Influence (on reserve at O’Neill)
F 2.24
Group presentations #2
M 2.27
Collins “Taking off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes” (BBV)
W 2.29
In-class Midterm
***Attend Billy Collins’ reading on BC’s campus***
Thursday, 3.1 at 7pm in Gasson 100
F 3.2 - NO CLASS
SPRING BREAK
M 3.12 Williams “Spring and All” (MOAP p. 268), cummings “Spring is Like a Perhaps Hand” (BBV),
cummings “A Leaf Falls” (BBV)
W 3.14
Momaday Way to Rainy Mountain (on reserve at O’Neill)
F 3.16
Momaday Way to Rainy Mountain
M 3.19
Levine “Smoke” (MOAP pp. 224-225)
W 3.21
Whitman excerpt from “Song of Myself” (BBV), “I Hear America Singing” (BBV)
F 3.23
Hughes “Theme for English B” (BBV), “I, Too” (MOAP p. 266)
Close-Reading of a Poem of Your Choice DUE
M 3.26
Ginsberg “Howl” (BBV), “America” (MOAP p. 269)
W 3.28
Olds “The Language of the Brag” (MOAP p. 280)
F 3.30
Rich “Diving into the Wreck” (MOAP pp. 276-278, pp. 287-288) and listen to Rich reading the poem
(BBV)
M 4.2
Chaucer “Prologue to the Wife of Bath’s Tale” from The Canterbury Tales (BBV)
W 4.4
Herbert “Easter Wings” (MOAP p. 143), Stern “Behaving Like a Jew” (BBV)
EASTER BREAK
W 4.11
Pound “In a Station of a Metro” and Doty’s response (BBV)
F 4.13
Eliot “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (MOAP pp. 262-265)
M 4.16
Arnold “Dover Beach” (MOAP pp. 185-6)
W 4.18
Yeats “The Second Coming” (BBV)
F 4.20
In-class recitations #1
M 4.23
Browning “My Last Duchess” (MOAP pp. 130-131, p. 135), “Porphyria’s Lover” (BBV)
W 4.25
Clifton excerpt from Mercy (BBV), Turner “Here, Bullet” and listen to Turner’s reading (BBV)
F 4.27
Moore “Poetry” (BBV)
M 4.30
In-class Final Exam
W 5.2
Critical Lens Application Paper DUE
In-class recitations #2