Introduction, Course Policies, Group Assignments, and Presentation Dates
Homework: Read “Harlem” and “Suicide’s Note” by Langston Hughes,“Settling” by Susan Berlin, “Bones—A City Poem” by Cheryl Savageau, and“Land of Death-Squads” by Denise Levertov
Titles
Homework: Read “Coal Train” by Jay Parini, “Under the Boathouse” by David Bottoms, “Yellow Light” by Garrett Hongo, “Heat” by H.D., “November Night” and “Wind and Silver” by Amy Lowell
Images
Homework: Read “Michiko Dead” by Jack Gilbert, “Yellow Light” by Garrett Hongo, “The Girl who Loved the Sky” by Anita Endrezze, “The Colonel” by Carolyn Forché, and “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop
Details
Homework: Read “Harlem” by Langston Hughes, “Latin Night at the Pawn Shop” by Martín Espada, “Persimmons” by Li-Young Lee, “The Writer” by Richard Wilbur, and “Thirteenth Birthday” by Shelley Wagner
Similes
Homework: Read “Coal Train” by Jay Parini, “The Pope’s Penis” by Sharon Olds, “A Noiseless Patient Spider” by Walt Whitman, and “Umbrella” by Duane Ackerman. Finish Poem #1
Poem #1 due
Metaphors
Homework: Read “Bitch” by Carolyn Kizer, “To a Daughter Leaving Home” by Linda Pastan, “Michiko Dead” by Jack Gilbert, “The Joy of Cooking” by Elaine Magarrell, and “Progress Report” by Charles Simic. Critique poems from Group A
Student Presentation #1
Extended Metaphors—Discussion of “To a Daughter Leaving Home” and “Michiko Dead”
Workshop of Group A
Homework: Read “In the Year of the Rat” by Oliver de la Paz, “A Short Drop to Nothing” by Judy Jordan, “Aubade” by Richard Kenney, “Justice” by Langston Hughes, and “DDT” by Lee Ann Roripaugh. Critique poems from Group B
Student Presentation #2
Sound—Discussion of “In the Year of the Rat” and “A Short Drop to Nothing”
Workshop of Group B
Homework: Read August Evening with Trumpet by Harry Humes
Poetry of the Everyday
Homework: Read “Yellow Light” by Garrett Hongo, “A Short Drop to Nothing” by Judy Jordan, “Bones—A City Poem” by Cheryl Savageau “Coma” by Chris Tusa, and “Attic Pantoum” by Patricia Fargnoli. Critique poems from Group C
Student Presentation #3
Place—Discussion of “Coma” and “Bones—A City Poem”
Workshop of Group C
Homework: Read “The Joy of Cooking” by Elaine Magarrell, “First Deer” by Joseph Bruchac, “Evolution” by Sherman Alexie, “My Mother Loses Her Virginity” by Christopher Conlon, and “Some Days” by Billy Collins. Critique poems from Group D
Student Presentation #4
Tone—Discussion of “Evolution” and “My Mother Loses Her Virginity”
Workshop of Group D
Homework: Read “Praying Drunk” and “My Father’s Corpse” by Andrew Hudgins, “Dame” by Susan Astor, “My Father’s Love Letters” by Yusef Komunyakaa, and “The Ways of Guilt” by Virgil Suárez. Finish Poem #2
Poem #2 due
Tone Shifts—Discussion of “My Father’s Corpse” and “Praying Drunk”
Finish up Workshop of Poem #1
Homework: Read “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop, “Settling” by Susan Berlin, “Suicide’s Note” by Langston Hughes, “Marks” by Linda Pastan, “In Line at the Supermarket” by Greg Pape, and “Counting the Mad” by Donald Justice. Critique poems from Group A
Student Presentation #5
Turns—Discussion of “In Line at the Supermarket” and “Counting the Mad”
Workshop of Group A
Homework: Read “Searching for Melinda’s Magic Moment” by Allison Joseph, “A Blessing” by James Wright, “This Close” by Dorianne Laux, “Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump” by David Bottoms, and “Widows” by Louise Glück. Critique poems from Group B
Student Presentation #6
Epiphanies—Discussion of “This Close” and “Searching for Melinda’s Magic Moment”
Workshop of Group B
Homework: Read “My Mother Loses Her Virginity” by Christopher Conlon, “The Girl who Loved the Sky” by Anita Endrezze, “Widows” by Louise Glück, “The Portrait” by Stanley Kunitz, and “The Minefield” by Diane Thiel. Critique poems from Group C
Student Presentation #7
Tension—Discussion of “The Minefield” and “The Portrait”
Workshop of Group C
Homework: Read “Help Wanted” by Charles Simic, “Entry in an Unknown Hand” by Franz Wright, “On Hearing the Airlines Will Use a Psychological Profile to Catch Potential Skyjackers” by Stephen Dunn, and “The Friend” by Marge Piercy. Critique poems from Group D
Student Presentation #8
Persona—Discussion of “Help Wanted” and “Entry in an Unknown Hand”
Workshop of Group D
Homework: Read “Bitch” by Carolyn Kizer, “Animals are Passing from our Lives” by Philip Levine, “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath, “Venus’s-flytraps” by Yusef Komunyakaa, and “Mercy” by Franz Wright
Student Presentation #9
Persona—Discussion of “Mirror” and “Animals are Passing from our Lives”
Finish up Workshop of Poem #2
Homework: Read Bellocq’s Ophelia by Natsha Trethewey
Persona, Place, and Form
Homework: Read “Venus’s-flytraps” by Yusef Komunyakaa, “In Language” by Eugene Gloria, “Emptying Town” by Nick Flynn, and “Your Father Sunbathing” by Christopher Bursk. Finish Poem #3
Poem #3 due
Line Breaks—Discussion of “Emptying Town” and “Venus’s-flytraps”
Finish up Workshop of Poem #2
Homework: Read “Yellow Light” by Garrett Hongo, “Footnote to the Amnesty Report on Torture” by Margaret Atwood, “Dad 1970” by Marta Boswell, and “Flying at Night” by Ted Kooser. Critique poems from Group A
Student Presentation #10
Sentence Lengths—Discussion of “Flying at Night” and “Footnote to the Amnesty Report on Torture”
Workshop of Group A
Homework: Read “This Close” by Dorianne Laux, “Sexual Terrorist” by Mary B. Campbell, “Married Love” by Liz Rosenberg, “Ethiopia” by Audre Lorde, and “Eating Together” by Li-Young Lee. Critique poems from Group B
Student Presentation #11
Understatement and Hyperbole—Discussion of “Sexual Terrorist” and “Eating Together”
Workshop of Group B
Homework: Read “Bag of Mice” by Nick Flynn, “Last Day” by Margaret Atwood, “An Arithmetic” by Kathy Mangan, and “The Larynx” by Alice Jones. Critique poems from Group C
Student Presentation #12
Lyric Poems—Discussion of “Bag of Mice” and “Last Day”
Workshop of Group C
Homework: Read “Under the Boathouse” by David Bottoms, “Traveling Through the Dark” by William Stafford, “Seventeen” by Andrew Hudgins, and “Oranges” by Gary Soto. Critique poems from Group D
Student Presentation #13
Narrative Poems—Discussion of “Seventeen” and “Oranges”
Workshop of Group D
Homework: Read “Counting the Mad” by Donald Justice and “A Landscape with Crutches” by Charles Simic
NO CLASS—Spring Break
NO CLASS—Spring Break
NO CLASS—Spring Break
Student Presentation #14
Catalog Poems—Discussion of “Counting the Mad” and “A Landscape with Crutches”
Finish up Workshop of Poem #3
Homework: Read “The Friend” by Marge Piercy, “Keeping Things Whole” by Mark Strand, “Fork” by Charles Simic, “Evolution” by Sherman Alexie, “Bag of Mice” by Nick Flynn, and “I Go Back to the House for a Book” by Billy Collins. Finish Poem #4
Poem #4 due
Imagination—Discussion of “Fork” and “I Go Back to the House for a Book”
Finish up Workshop of Poem #3
Homework: Read “A Landscape with Crutches” and “Progress Report” by Charles Simic, “Some Days” by Billy Collins and “The Poem You Asked For” by Larry Levis. Critique poems from Group A
Student Presentation #15
Imagination and Writing—Discussion of “Some Days” and “The Poem You Asked For”
Workshop of Group A
Homework: Read “The Colonel” by Carolyn Forché, “Desire” by Eamon Grennan, “Symptoms of Dehydration” by Kelly Magee, and “The Deaf Dancing to Rock” by Lisel Mueller. Critique poems from Group B
Student Presentation #16
Prose Poems—Discussion of “Desire” and “Symptoms of Dehydration”
Workshop of Group B
Homework: Read “Snapping Beans” by Lisa Parker, “Postcards to Columbus” by Sherman Alexie, “Yes” by Denise Duhamel, and “Subic Bay” by Eugene Gloria. Critique poems from Group C
Crossing Cultures—Discussion of “Yes” and “Snapping Beans”
Workshop of Group C
Homework: Read “Justice” by Langston Hughes, “Mercy” by Franz Wright, “Evolution” and “Postcards to Columbus” by Sherman Alexie, and “Latin Night at the Pawn Shop” by Martín Espada. Critique poems from Group D
Social Criticism—Discussion of “Postcards to Columbus” and “Mercy”
Workshop of Group D
Homework: Read High Water Mark by David Shumate
Student Presentation #17
Imagination, Turns, and Ephiphanies
Homework: Read “An Arithmetic” by Kathy Mangan, “The Larynx” and “The Foot” by Alice Jones, and “Taking off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes” by Billy Collins
Student Presentation #18
Register and Audience—Discussion of “An Arithmetic” and “The Larynx”
Finish up Workshop of Poem #4
Homework: Read “Land of Death-Squads” by Denise Levertov, “Last Day” by Margaret Atwood, “The Excrement Poem” by Maxine Kumin, “Portrait in Georgia” by Jean Toomer, and “Filthy Landscape” by Charles Simic
Student Presentation #19
Diction and Tone—Discussion of “Land of Death-Squads” and “The Excrement Poem”
Finish up Workshop of Poem #4
Homework: Read “Dame” by Susan Astor, “Eating Together” by Li-Young Lee, “Love Poem” by Linda Pastan, and “The Forms of Love” by George Oppen
Student Presentation #20
Avoiding Sentimentality—Discussion of “Dame” and “Love Poem”
Finish up Workshop of Poem #4
Homework: Read “A & P” by John Updike
Setting and Plot Structure
Homework: Read “Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff
Character
Homework: Read “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan
Character Development
Homework: Read “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara
Scene, Summary, and Exposition
Homework: Read “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel García Márquez
Description and Detail
Homework: Read “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan. Finish Analysis Paper
Analysis Paper due
Point of View: First Person
Homework: Read “Bulldog” by Arthur Miller
Point of View: Third Person Limited
Homework: Read “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
Point of View: Third Person Objective
Homework: Read “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara. Finish Anthology
Anthology due
Dialogue, Tags, and Characterization
Final Exam Period: Portfolio due at 1:00
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