Stony Brook University / English 361: Poetry in English
Spring 2014, Monday and Wednesday, 4.00pm – 5.20pm, Frey Hall 222
Professor Rowan Ricardo Phillips
email: [email protected]
office hours: Humanities 2077, MW 12.45pm – 2.15pm; and by appointment
office phone and voicemail: 631-632-7374
Course Description
This course is an extensive foray into English-language poetry more or less from
the Early Modern era (also known as the Renaissance) to the present; this will include a
few works in translation as well. The majority of the poems will be lyric poems, but we
will also look at excerpts from epics. Reading assignments will primarily from the fifth
edition of The Norton Anthology of Poetry, which is available at the University
Bookstore. This main text will be supplemented by other selected texts, many of which
will be available via the EGL 361 Blackboard page. You, the students will learn the
basics of understanding poetry. You will also learn to appreciate the basic forms of lyric
poetry, including ballads and sonnets and many other forms, as well as vers libre
(commonly known as “free” verse); you will also receive instruction on how to
appreciate metaphors, irony, and the many other figures of speech and rhetorical
techniques poems employ. Finally, you will gain an appreciation of poetic history and
the many ways in which poets and their work have historically interacted with their eras,
while also creating work that can powerfully speak to us in our present moment.
Course Requirements
• The Norton Anthology of Poetry (fifth edition)
• Blackboard access to additional course materials
• Regular attendance and participation in discussion: To put it plainly, more
than three unexcused absence over the course of the semester will significantly impact
your final grade. To get an excused absence (sickness, family emergency, etc.) you need
to get a note from Health Services and/or the Dean’s office; please try to let me know
ahead of time through yourself or a friend if you know you’ll miss class. Class begins
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promptly at 2.30pm: be in class on time and ready to begin; there’s much to cover.
There will be a little lecturing as needed, but most of the class conducted as an open
discussion. All students are expected to come to class having studied all the materials
assigned and to participate in class discussion.
If you do not participate in class
discussions your grade will also be affected. Think of participating in class discussions
as a form of good citizenship:
vigorous and careful and open discussion with all
participating will be the key to all of us learning a lot and having a fun and fulfilling
semester.
Students are expected to bring the text to each and every class. On specific other
days indicated on the syllabus, we will be also using other print or online materials, plus
printed or downloaded copies of any other material assigned. You may bring a laptop or
other device and use it in class, so long as these devices are used only for class materials.
• The primary means of assessment will be two longer papers, plus student
in-class presentations.
There will be two papers assigned for the course. The first will focus on the
analysis of a particular poem or passage from a poem. You are expected to draw on ideas
presented in class discussions and readings, but the paper should represent new, original
thinking by you. A number of the short essays on poems that we will be reading this
semester will provide models for you.
For the last paper, you will have the option of doing another single-poem analysis
or a comparative analysis of several poems and/or poets.
Regarding in-class presentations: each student will do 2 in-class presentations
during the semester, on an author and poem of your choice from the syllabus. I’ll give
more guidelines regarding the presentations in class, but basically students will post a
brief summary of their topic and approach on Blackboard by 8pm Sunday before class—
and the rest of us will read the posts as part of our preparation for class. Student
presentations in class will last 5 minutes or so. You will give us your ideas about what
are important questions to ask about interpreting your chosen poem, plus how you would
approach answering those questions. Be sure to focus on a poem’s form (including its
music) as well as its content. Remember too that your presentation should not be a
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monologue but should engage the rest of the class members while you guide us and give
us focus questions and topics. You may use the Internet or other resources to accompany
your oral presentation (but this is optional). Speaking of “other resources”, Melville
Library would make a great ally. For the final presentation, students will have to recite a
poem. We will speak more on this as when as the time for recitations draws near.
The Professor reserves the right to assign other work for the class or individual
students, and the change the syllabus assignments, as necessary.
Grading for English 361
Quality of class participation (including attendance and discussion participation and inclass presentation) counts 20%; papers 80% (each paper = 40% approximately, though
the final paper may be ‘weighed’ slightly more and the first paper slightly less because
I’m hoping that your papers will improve over the course of the semester inspired by
class discussions and my feedback).
As mentioned above, poor attendance and class participation and/or late papers
will negatively affect your grade.
Learning Outcomes for English 361
By the end of this course, the successful English 361 students should be able to:
1.
Read poems and similar texts closely with attention to nuances of language,
content and form; such texts include published works and drafts of student writing for the
purposes of peer review.
2.
Write focused, organized and convincing analytical essays in clear, standardized
English prose, making use of feedback from teachers and peers.
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3.
Locate, evaluate, synthesize and incorporate relevant primary and secondary
source materials into thesis-driven, interpretive essays of increasing length and
complexity.
4.
Understand the basic conventions of poetry and possess a familiarity with poetic
terms, genres, and devices; as well as a knowledge of poetic, dramatic, narrative and
rhetorical forms.
5.
Participate in discussions by listening to others’ perspectives, asking productive
questions, and articulating ideas with nuance and clarity.
6.
Communicate complex ideas clearly in formal presentations through speaking,
writing and use of digital media.
7.
Know a broad range of English and American literatures with an understanding of
how poems emerge from, respond to and shape historical and cultural contexts.
8.
Read poetry from diverse cultures with attention to aesthetic traditions particular
to these poetries and awareness of how poems emerge from, respond to and shape
historical and cultural contexts.
9.
Understand history, structure and dialect variations of English and American
poetry.
10.
Be able to recite poetry from memory; strengthened capacity to memorize.
A note about honesty and coursework
All writing that you turn in for this English class should be yours alone and done solely
for this course.
When you use other sources (a good thing to do), you must credit them properly: reading and
discussing literature is about being part of a community of readers, which includes
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honoringothers’ contributions even as you would like your own ideas and specific words to be
respected. Plagiarism is not just a minor act; it is fundamentally a violation of community, of our
interdependence on each other. This includes citing Vendler, or the critics you will be reading, or
sources used in any other text.
Penalties for plagiarism at Stony Brook are very severe and include failing the course and being
required to take a semester or longer off from enrolling at the University.
For more information on plagiarism and the role of the College Judiciary Committee, see the
Student Handbook and also the statement about Plagiarism on the English Literature website.
For discussion of how to use and cite sources for English literature papers, see the English
Department website’s Citations link, which contains many examples of how to cite books,
journal articles, websites, etc.
DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES (DSS) STATEMENT: If you have a physical,
psychological, medical, or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact
Disability Support Services (631) 632-6748 or http://studentaffairs.stonybrook.edu/dss/. They
will determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information
and documentation is confidential.
Students who require assistance during emergency evacuation are encouraged to discuss their
needs with their professors and Disability Support Services. For procedures and information go to
the following website: http://www.stonybrook.edu/ehs/fire/disabilities/
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY STATEMENT: Each student must pursue his or her academic
goals honestly and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Representing another
person's work as your own is always wrong. Faculty are required to report any suspected instance
of academic dishonesty to the Academic Judiciary. For more comprehensive information on
academic integrity, including categories of academic dishonesty, please refer to the academic
judiciary website at http://www.stonybrook.edu/uaa/academicjudiciary/
CRITICAL INCIDENT MANAGEMENT: Stony Brook University expects students to respect
the rights, privileges, and property of other people. Faculty are required to report to the Office of
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Judicial Affairs any disruptive behavior that interrupts their ability to teach, compromises the
safety of the learning environment, and/or inhibits students' ability to learn.
For syllabus assignments for each week, see below:
(Consult blackboard assignments folders for focus poems and discussion questions)
PART I: COMPOENTENTS
Week 1––Beginnings
Monday 27 January: Introductions, objectives, expectations
Wednesday 29 January: The Beginning as the Ends
Week 2––Versification
Monday 3 February:
The Poetic Line (Variety of Line Length • Phrases and Pauses • Enjambment and End-Stops)
Meter and Rhythm (Iambic Pentameter • Blank Verse • Common Meter •Iambic Tetrameter •
Iambic Trimeter • Other Iambic Meters • Iambic Hexameter • Meters Other Than Iambic •
Trochaic Poems • Anapestic Poems • Dactylic Poems • Meters Beyond Accentual-Syllabic •
Accentual Verse • Syllabi Verse • Quantitative Meter)
Wednesday 5 February:
Rhyme (Partial Rhyme • End Rhyme and Rhyme Schemes • Internal Rhyme)
Other Sound Effects (Alliteration and Assonance • Onomatopoeia)
Week 3––Stanza and Form
Monday 10 February:
Standard English Stanzas (Couplets • Heroic Couplets • Tercets • Quatrains • Cinquaines •
Sestets • Septets • Ottava Rima and Other Eight-Line Stanzas • Spenserian and Other Nine-Line
Stanzas • Stanzas of Ten Lines or More)
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Standard Verse Forms (Sonnets • Epigram • Haiku • Limerick • Villanelle • Sestina • Sestina •
Canzone • Rondel • Pantoum • Ode)
Oral Forms (Forms Composed for Singing • Psalms, Hymns, and Spirituals • Ballads • Songs
from Plays and Longer Poems • Other Forms Rooted in Oral-Performance Traditions • OralFormulaic Narrative Verse)
Wednesday 12 February:
Visual Forms
Open Forms or Free Verse
Sequences (Sonnet Sequences • Other Sequences)
Book-Length forms (Epic and Mock-Epic • Nonnarrative Book-Length Poems)
Week 4––Special Guest
Monday 17 February: Eduardo C. Corral
Wednesday 19 February: Lives of the Poets
Week 5
Monday 4 February: Lives of the Poets
Wednesday 26 February: Lives of the Poets
Week 6––Frames and Development
Monday 3 March:
Titles (Titles That Allude or Address • Titles of Occasion • Titles That Suggest the Poem’s
Purpose • Grammar of Titles)
Epigraphs
Beginnings (First Lines • Initial Situations)
Middles (Narrative Development • Nonnarrative Development • Turning Points • Two-Stanza
Poems and Other Absent Middles)
Ends (Bangs, Whimpers, and Rhetorical Questions • Poems That Resist or Subvert Their Own
Closure)
Framing Devices
Refrains (Standard Refrains • Nonsense or Birdsong Refrains • Incremental Refrains • Linked
Refrains)
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Lists and Other Structures of Repetition and Variation
Wednesday 5 March: TBA, Lives of the Poets
Week 7––Poetic Voice
Monday 10 March:
Diction (Formal and Elevated Diction • Informal and Colloquial Diction • Dialect • Abstract
versus Concrete Diction)
Tone
Monologue (Dramatic Monologue • Meditation, Confession, and Invitation • Letters)
Wednesday 12 March:
Dialogue
Polyvocality (Cited or Interpolated Voices • Questions, Epiphanies, and Exhortations)
Week 8: Spring Break
Week 9––Figurative Language
Monday 24 March:
Metaphor and Simile
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Overstatement (Hyperbole) and Understatement (Litotes)
Wednesday 26 March: Patricia Spears Jones
Week 10––Figurative Language (continued)
Monday 31 March:
Paradox
Personification, Allegory, and Symbolism
Conceit
Figures of Address
Wednesday 2 April: TBA, Lives of the Poets
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PART II: TEXTS AND CONTEXTS
Week 11––Influence and Intertextuality
Monday 7 April:
Literary Allusion (Poems Alluding to Earlier Poems • Poems about Precursor Poets)
Mythological Allusion (Western Classical Mythology • Non-Western Classical Mythologies)
Biblical Allusion (Old Testament • New Testament)
Wednesday 9 April: Stephen Motika
Week 12––Cultural Identity and Politics
Monday 14 April:
Class
Gender
Race and Ethnicity
Wednesday 16 April:
War
Social and Political Protest
Postcolonialism (Africa • Australia and New Zealand • Caribbean • Ireland • India)
PART III: TOPICS
Week 13––Daily Life
Monday 21 April: Ishion Hutchinson
Wednesday 23 April:
Work
Home and Family
Youth and Age (Poems of Youth • Poems of Age)
Sickness and Death
Happiness and Dejection (Poems of Happiness • Poems of Dejection)
Desire and Sexuality (Seduction • Fidelity and Infidelity • Farewells and Absences • Sex •
Marriage and Partnership)
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Week 14––Daily Life (continued)
Monday 28 April:
Faith and Doubt
Morning and Night (Morning • Night)
Country and City (Country • City)
Science and Technology
Week 14––Nature
Wednesday 30 April:
Landscapes and Seascapes
Flowers, Fruits, and Trees
Animals/Birds
Seasons (Spring and Summer • Fall and Winter)
Week 15––Fine Arts
Monday 5 May:
Poetry
Visual Art
Music
Dance
Wednesday 7 May:
The End as the Beginning
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