ENGL 131: Introduction to Poetry Writing
Course Home Page
Blackboard
Instructor's E-mail
Course Description
Text
Poetry Workshops
Grading and Evaluation
Instructor Responsibilities
Deadlines and Late Policies
Honor Code
Course Mechanics
Schedule
Course Description
ENGL 131 is an introduction to poetry writing. In this course, we will immerse ourselves in
the writing and reading of poetry in order to become more knowledgeable, skilled, and
confident writers of poetry.
This course will be run workshop-style. More than half of your time will be spent writing
poems and giving feedback to others’ work on the discussion forum, helping you to become
a more effective writer and editor of your own work. You will be divided into groups of three
to four students for this purpose. Since there is no writing poetry without reading poetry, the
balance of your time will be spent studying various formal techniques and writing responses
to reading assignments from The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th edition. These non-poetry
written assignments will be read and responded to by your instructor. They are fairly
informal short essays—think of them as letters to your instructor about your engagement
with the reading—but they should be mechanically clean and well written.
In the last week of the course, you will submit a short manuscript of eight to ten of your own
poems. These poems should be revised versions of the poems you’ve written as lesson
assignments. You will, of course, receive plenty of feedback from other workshop members
and your instructor to help you with these revisions. If you keep up with your revisions
throughout the course, you will have a strong and polished manuscript ready.
Please read the policies and guidelines on this course home page carefully, and contact me
with any questions.
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Text
The required text is Ferguson, Salter, and Stallworthy (eds), The Norton Anthology of
Poetry, 5th edition (2005).
A note on alternate editions: You may work from an earlier edition of the anthology if you
wish, but be warned that the earlier editions may not contain all the same material or page
numbers as the 5th edition; it is your responsibility to make sure you have the correct
materials in front of you when you are working.
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Grading and Evaluation
The grading for this course breaks down as follows:
1. Poetry Workshop Participation (20 percent). You will be expected to post poems
and respond to others’ poems usefully, thoughtfully, and according to class deadlines.
See Poetry Workshop Evaluation for details on what I expect and how I will grade
your participation.
2. Reading Response Forum Participation (20 percent). Beginning with Lesson 2, you
will also be expected to take part in discussions of the course materials on our
Reading Response forums. Detailed requirements are provided in Lesson 2.
3. Poetry Portfolio (40 percent). Your poetry portfolio will be graded as a whole at the
end of the course. It will consist of eight to ten poems that you have written for this
course and will be graded for completeness, evidence of effort, and, especially,
evidence of revision (whether in response to workshop comments or not).
There is no final exam in this course. Your portfolio serves as a final assessment.
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Instructor Responsibilities
Your instructor has some responsibilities to you as well. I will:
1. Provide clear lessons and assignments each week, and make myself available via
e-mail to answer any questions you might have.
2. Respond to any e-mails within twenty-four hours (usually sooner) unless I have given
prior notice of my unavailability and alternate methods of getting in touch with me.
3. Maintain a discussion forum and workshop that are respectful, supportive, and useful.
4. Deliver my own thoughtful comments on your work by the Monday after your poems
are posted (if they are posted by the Thursday deadlines).
5. Remain available to discuss any questions or concerns about grading or my
comments on and responses to your work.
6. Provide a resource to answer any questions you might have about publication,
submitting poetry to journals and contests, putting together a manuscript, or any other
poetry-related issues.
7. Recommend additional readings and support on subjects of particular interest to you,
if requested.
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Deadlines and Late Policies
Our weeks generally run from Monday through Sunday. (I will let you know about any
adjustments.) Each lesson’s poem is due on Thursday. Responses to your group members’
poems are due on Sunday. You will receive my comments on your poem, if it is submitted
by the deadline, by Monday of the following week. Beginning with Lesson 2, I will post
Reading Response discussion forum prompts by Monday of each week. You will post your
primary response to these prompts by Wednesday. Secondary responses (discussion) will
continue throughout the week. Each week’s Reading Response discussion forum closes on
Saturday at midnight. I provide detailed information on the Poetry Workshop in Lesson 1
and on the Reading Response forum in Lesson 2.
So, each week do the following (deadlines are in bold):
1. Monday: Read the lesson and begin your assignments. Read my prompts on the
Reading Response forum.
2. Tuesday: Work on your assignments. Post your primary response to the Reading
Response forum if you are ready.
3. Wednesday: Post primary responses to the Reading Response forum. Read
other students’ primary responses and respond.
4. Thursday: Post your poem to the Poetry Workshop. Read your group members’
poems. Check the Reading Response forum and post your secondary responses.
5. Friday: Check the Poetry Workshop, read your group members’ poems, and post your
responses. Check the Reading Response forum and post your secondary responses.
6. Saturday: Last day to post your secondary responses in the Reading Response
forum.
7. Sunday: Last day to post responses to your group members’ poems.
8. Monday: Receive your instructor’s responses to your work. Begin the next lesson.
You can count on workshop feedback only if you submit your poem on time. (Some group
members may provide feedback to late work out of kindness, but don’t assume that you will
receive it.) I will provide feedback for late poems after I have taken care of poems submitted
on time.
Discussion of each lesson’s readings on the Reading Response forums is ongoing
throughout the week. You should plan on checking the forum frequently, but you should
make a point of contributing on at least two different days during the week.
Other important policies:
Repeatedly missing deadlines will negatively affect your grade.
Final portfolios will not be accepted late.
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Honor Code
Remember that as a student of UNC-Chapel Hill, you are bound by the University's Honor
Code: “It shall be the responsibility of every student at The University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill to obey and support the enforcement of the Honor Code, which prohibits lying,
cheating, or stealing when these actions involve academic processes or University students
or academic personnel acting in an official capacity.” An especially serious Honor Code
violation is plagiarism. See the Writing Center's handout on this topic.
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Course Mechanics
Blackboard
Some of your class components (discussion forums, announcements, the class listserv) are
accessed through a software package called Blackboard, and you will need to log in to
Blackboard using a unique identifier known as your UNC Onyen (Only Name You'll Ever
Need) and Onyen password.
There is a link to the Blackboard site in the gray navigation bar at the top of every page in
this course. Click on that link, and then use your Onyen to log in to Blackboard. Click on the
ENGL 131 link, and you will see navigation buttons on the left side of the screen labeled
Announcements, Discussion Forum, and so on.
If you experience problems accessing Blackboard, this is what you should do:
If you do not already have a UNC Onyen, go to the Onyen Web site and follow the
instructions for creating an Onyen.
If you have an Onyen but have forgotten it (or the password), go to the Onyen Web
site.
If you have your Onyen but can't log in to Blackboard, contact Janice Durham or
Donnyell Batts at the Friday Center.
If you can log in to Blackboard but can't find this course listed, contact Janice Durham
or Donnyell Batts at the Friday Center.
If you can't locate a forum in Blackboard, contact the Instructional Designer at the
Friday Center.
If you have technical problems while using Blackboard, contact Blackboard Help (use
the Help button in Blackboard, or call 919-962-HELP).
Using E-mail
All communication from your instructor will go to your UNC Onyen e-mail address
(the one that appears when you post to the discussion forum). Off-campus users can
access their UNC e-mail using Webmail. You can have your e-mail forwarded to a different
e-mail address by clicking “Forward e-mail” at the Onyen Web site.
If you use a filter on your e-mail account, you are responsible for ensuring that it does not
prevent you from receiving messages from your instructor, the course listserv, or Friday
Center staff.
Hotmail users should be aware that Hotmail will block messages sent from within
Blackboard because Blackboard uses “blind carbon copy” to protect privacy. We
recommend that you use your UNC Onyen e-mail account for this course.
It is extremely important for you to save copies of any messages you send to your instructor
via e-mail. If your instructor doesn't receive your message, you must have a copy of the
e-mail (with any attached file), indicating the date sent, to prove that you sent the message.
It is your responsibility to maintain copies of your sent e-mails, as there is no way to
guarantee that any e-mail message will be delivered. Please check your e-mail software
to see how it manages sent and saved messages. Some software automatically deletes
messages one month after they have been sent; others only save messages if they are filed
in folders; others save messages received but not those sent. You may need to send
yourself a copy of your e-mailed assignment at the same time you send it to your instructor,
or you may need to print a copy of the e-mail message and any attachments to keep in your
paper files. No matter how your system works, make sure you know how to save copies of
all messages that you send to your instructor and that you save the copies for several
months beyond the end of the course.
Library Services
Students enrolled in Carolina Courses Online can access online library resources from the
UNC Library System by linking to Library Services for Distance Education Students. The
UNC library staff is available to assist any students who have difficulties accessing online
library resources. If you encounter difficulties, please report your problem by visiting this
Web page for reporting a problem.
Other Questions
Contact your instructor with questions regarding the content of the course and your
progress. (There is an e-mail link at the top of every lesson page.) Please include “CCO
ENGL 131” in the subject line of your e-mail.
Contact the Instructional Designer at the Friday Center about problems with this Web site,
including bad links.
If you have any logistical questions as you work through the course (enrollment, Onyen,
credits, withdrawal, and so on), contact the Student Services staff at the Friday Center for
Continuing Education (phone 919-962-1134 or 800-862-5669).
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Schedule
Click on the link for each lesson to view my lectures and your assignments.
Lesson 1
Welcome to the Workshop
Lesson 2
The Poetic Line
Lesson 3
Voice: Tone, Diction, and Beyond
Lesson 4
Sound
Lesson 5
The Image
Lesson 6
Describing an Object
Lesson 7
Basic Prosody: Rhythm, Rhyme, and Meter
Lesson 8
Basic Prosody: Iambic Pentameter and Blank Verse
Lesson 9
The Villanelle and Sestina
Lesson 10
Free Verse and Open Forms
Lesson 11
Confessional Poetry
Lesson 12
Experimental Forms
Lesson 13
Your Time
Lesson 14
Your Portfolio
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Course author: Tessa Joseph Nicholas, MFA, PhD
Current instructor: Tessa Joseph Nicholas, MFA, PhD
© The University of North Carolina
Last modified: April 28, 2009
Send comments and questions to [email protected].