ENG 106: Introduction to Poetry
Rachel Edford, PhD
[email protected]
Office: 18 PLC
Office Phone: 346-1512
Office Hours: MF 3-4:30pm, and by appointment
CRN: 32701
Spring 2012
185 Lillis
12-12:50 MWF
Course Description
What makes poetry different from other forms of writing? How do we talk about poetry in a critical way that
moves beyond discussions of whether we like it or how it makes us feel? Is the act of interpreting poetry
completely subjective, or are some interpretations more valid than others? In this class, we will address these
questions and others by learning about the major formal features of poetry and examining how poets over the
past several hundred years employ these features to convey their ideas in particular ways. This course satisfies
the university’s Group Requirement in the Arts and Letters category. Please note that this isn’t a comprehensive
introduction to traditions of English and American poetry; as a result, English Majors are encouraged to enroll
in the department's more historically oriented Introduction to the English Major sequence, ENG 220-222.
Required Texts
Poetry: A Pocket Anthology, 7th Ed., R. S. Gwynn (ISBN: 978-0-205-03212-9)
Access to Blackboard
(Note: You are expected to print off the reading assignments from Blackboard and bring a hard copy to class.)
Required Assignments
Writing Assignment 1 (Paraphrase)
Writing Assignment 2 (Poem Kit)
Writing Assignment 3 (Poem Kit Essay)
Commonplace Book
Reading Quizzes
Midterm
Final
Percent of Total Grade
15%
10%
15%
10%
10%
20%
20%
Writing Assignments and the Commonplace Book: In this class, you will complete three writing assignments
and a commonplace book. The writing assignments will involve analyzing the formal features of one or more
poems and constructing an argument about the significance of particular formal features. We will discuss the
writing assignments in detail in class. You will also assemble a commonplace book, a notebook in which you
record your favorite lines or verses from the poems we studied in class along with an explanation of why you
selected these particular lines or passages and how you decided to organize your selections. You will submit
this notebook at the end of the term.
Reading Quizzes: There will be 10 unannounced quizzes throughout the term based on the readings (both the
poems and the poetic terminology). To prepare for the quizzes, you should read the assignments carefully and
completely. These quizzes will consist of multiple choice, fill in the blank, short answer, and true/false
questions. Quizzes will be given at the beginning of class; no make-ups. Some quizzes will be open book, so be
sure to bring the readings and your notes to class every day.
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Examinations: We will have two in-class examinations, a midterm and final. The exams are based on our inclass discussions. The final exam will cover the poems after the midterm. Please note that the final exam is
scheduled for Thursday June 14th from 10:15-12:15pm and that there are no make-up exams.
Participation: Your active and respectful participation is required and expected. I will often call upon you to
read the assigned poems out loud in class; so be sure to read the poems carefully (both silently and out loud)
prior to class. Participation includes being prepared for class by completing the assignments and bringing your
notes and materials to class every day, participating in class discussions and activities, listening to fellow
students and the instructor, and respecting the diversity of viewpoints in the classroom. Please be considerate to
those around you and turn off all electronic devices before class begins.
Course Policies
Format Guidelines: All essays should be typed, double-spaced in 12-point Times New Roman font with 1 inch
margins, according to MLA format (see Blackboard for instructions on MLA formatting). All pages must be
stapled.
Late Work: Late writing assignments will be lowered by one full letter grade for every calendar day that they
are late. There are no make-up quizzes or exams. In-class activities cannot be made up.
Attendance: To succeed in this course, you must attend regularly, arriving and leaving on time. You may miss
the equivalent of one week of class meetings (three class periods) with no penalty. Each additional absence will
lower your total course grade by 1/3. (For example, the first additional absence after one week will reduce a Bto a C+, the second additional absence will reduce a B- to a C, and so on); absences cannot be made up.
Habitual tardiness will also lower your grade. Three tardies equal one absence.
Academic Honesty: All work submitted in this course must be your own and be written exclusively for this
course. The use of sources (ideas, quotations, paraphrases) must be properly documented. In cases of clearly
established plagiarism or cheating, a final course grade of “F” will be the minimum penalty, and all incidents
will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct, as required by University Policy. Please see me if you have
any questions about your use of sources.
Access: The University of Oregon is working to create inclusive learning environments. Please notify me in
week one if there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that result in disability-related barriers to
your participation. You may also wish to contact the Accessible Education Center in 164 Oregon Hall at 541346-1155 or [email protected].
Grading Scale
97-100
94-96
90-93
87-89
84-86
80-83
A+
A
AB+
B
B-
77-79
74-76
70-73
67-69
64-66
60-63
Below 60
C+
C
CD+
D
DF
Your continued enrollment in this course indicates that you have read this syllabus and that you
understand and accept its stated expectations and requirements.
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Class Schedule (subject to revision)
Readings and assignments should be completed by the day they are listed on the schedule. Unless indicated, all
readings are from Poetry: A Pocket Anthology. For the poems posted on Blackboard, please print out a hard
copy and bring them to class.
Week Date
1
M 4/2
W 4/4
F: 4/6
2
3
4
“Lyric, Narrative, Dramatic” (9-11)
“An Essay on Criticism” (90-91), “Digging” (325), “Poetry” (on Blackboard)
The Speaker
Ballads: “John Barleycorn”(100-02), “My Papa’s Waltz” (238), “Ballad of Birmingham”
(243-44), “The Ballad of Aunt Geneva” (358-60)
M: 4/9
“Speaker, Listener, and Context” (2-9), “Porphyria’s Lover” (146-47), “The Ruined
Maid” (168-69), “the mother” (251-52)
W: 4/11
“Literary History and Poetic Conventions” (41-44), “To the Virgins, To Make Much of
Time” (77), “To His Coy Mistress” (85-86), “Coy Mistress” (394)
F: 4/13
“Writing About Poetry” (45-53), “The Sun Rising” (72-73), “Ode to the West Wind”
(117-20), “Here, Bullet” (402-3)
M: 4/16
The Language of Poetry
“The Language of Poetry” (11-18), “God's Grandeur” (169), “Pied Beauty” (170), “The
Convergence of the Twain” (Blackboard)
W: 4/18
“The Emperor of Ice-Cream” (193-94), “pity this busy monster manunkind” (223),
“ESL” (343-44), “Bestiary” (354)
F: 4/20
Imagery: “A Description of a City Shower” (87-89), “Spring and All” (201), “The Fish”
(239-41), “Welcome to Hiroshima” (390-91)
M: 4/23
William Blake: “The Chimney Sweeper” (96-97) “The Little Black Boy” (97-98), “A
Poison Tree” (98), “The Tyger” (99)
W: 4/25
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Topics and Readings
Syllabus, introductions
Figurative Language
Figurative Language (18-22), “A Red, Red Rose” (100), “As I Walked Out One Evening”
(233-35), “The Stone Crab: A Love Poem” (321), “Litany” (333)
F: 4/27
“Silence” (211), “The Writer” (258), “Next, Please” (260-61), “Metaphors” (309)
Writing Assignment #1 Due
M: 4/30
Emily Dickinson: “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” (159), “I Felt a Funeral, in My
Brain” (160-61), “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” (161-62), “Tell All the Truth, But Tell
It Slant” (163)
3
5
6
7
8
9
10
W: 5/2
Allusion: “Leda and the Swan” (176), “Dulce et Decorum Est” (222), “Narcissus and
Echo” (316), “Siren Song” (322-23)
F: 5/4
“Symbol” (23-24), “The New Colossus” (171), “The Road Not Taken” (190), “Aunt
Jennifer’s Tigers” (297), “The Onion” (383-84)
M: 5/7
Midterm Exam
W: 5/9
Tone
“Tone of Voice” (25-27), “Ah, Are You Digging at My Grave?” (165-66), “Richard
Cory” (181), “Musée des Beaux Art” (235), “The Unknown Citizen” (236-237)
F: 5/11
Repetition: Sounds and Forms
“Repetition” (27-29), “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” (246), “One Art” (24142), “The Last One” (285-87), “Alan Doll Rap” (381-83)
M: 5/14
“Meter and Rhythm” (29-34), “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” (171-72), “Anecdote of the
Jar” (192-93), “The Weary Blues” (230-31), “We Real Cool” (252)
W: 5/16
“Free Verse, Open Form, and Closed Form” (35-36), “Song of Myself, 1, 5, 6, 21, 32”
(150-53, 154-55), “A Supermarket in California” (278-79)
F: 5/18
“The Red Wheelbarrow” (200-201), “In a Station of the Metro” (202), “The Day Lady
Died” (280-81), “Ethics” (305-06)
M: 5/21
“Stanza Forms” (37-38), “Easter Wings” (78), “r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r” (225), “The
Colonel” (368-69), “First Love: A Quiz” (405)
Writing Assignment 2 Due
W: 5/23
“Fixed Forms” (38-41), “Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape” (282-84),
“All American Sestina” (329-30), “Rondeau Redoublé” (352-53)
F: 5/25
The Sonnet: “Sonnet 116” (67), “Sonnet 130” (68), “Dim Lady” (387), “Holy Sonnet 10”
(71-72)
M: 5/28
No class: Memorial Day
W: 5/30
The Sonnet: “Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent's Narrow Room” (104), “Ozymandias”
(120), “Yet Do I Marvel” (233), “Domestic Situation” (406-7)
F: 6/1
Robert Frost: “After Apple-Picking” (184-85), “Design” (185), “Home Burial” (186-89),
“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (191)
M: 6/4
T. S. Eliot: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (213-17), “Preludes” (218-19)
W: 6/6
TBA
F: 6/8
Commonplace Book Due, Last Day of Class
TH: 6/14
10:15-12:15pm Final Exam and Writing Assignment 3 Due
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