E N G L I S H 4 5 5

Read "Life Studies: American Poetry from T.S. Eliot to Allen Ginsberg" and "The Modernist Revolution: Make it New!" from the Academy of American Poets webpage
Read the following poems from Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poets (VB from here on): Allen Ginsberg, from "Howl;" Robert Lowell, "Skunk Hour;" and Elizabeth Bishop, "The Armadillo."
Guest: Richard Ruppel on Modernism in Contemporary poetry

9/4

From Dean Young's First Course in Turbulence (DY): "If Thou Dislik'st What Thou First Light'st On" and "The Infirmament" (the first two poems in the book).
From Brenda Hillman's Loose Sugar (BH): "The Spark" (first poem in the book).

Week 3

9/9

First response writing due: 1-3 pages: discuss one of the poems from Young or Hillman in relation to any of the previously assigned poems from Ginsberg, Lowell, or Bishop. Describe the relationships you see in terms of language use, the role of the poem's speaker, the possibilities for poetic meaning, or another point of your own discovery.
Poetry exercise: address a poem to any of the seven authors whose work we've read thus far. If you'd like, title your poem "Dear [Dean Young]" and begin the poem with these lines: "My teacher assigned your poem in a class / and I thought you should know:". Obviously, these lines are poor excuses for poetry, so feel free to develop your own strategy. In your poem draft, try to use the familiar details of your life to let Dean Young, or whoever, know who you are, how you react to their poetry, and why. Or, invent a fictional voice in which to respond. Feel free to experiment with language--use free association, bad logic, cool sounds--and try to write a poem that works for you.

9/11

From Billy Collins, Sailing Alone Around the Room (BC), "The Flight of the Reader" (171), "Aristotle" (132), and "To a Stranger Born in Some Distant country Hundreds of Years from Now" (89).
From Lyn Hejinian, My Life (LH), pages 7-13.

Week 4

9/16

VB: Robert Pinsky: all poems.
From Tony Hoagland's "Three Tenors: Glück, Hass, Pinsky, and the Deployment of Talent," part one on Pinsky.

9/18

VB: Robert Hass: all poems, excerpt from essay, "Images."
From Hoagland, part two on Hass.

Week 5

9/23

VB: Louise Gluck: all poems, photocopy, "The Sensual World," essay, "On Impoverishment"
From Hoagland, part three on Gluck.
Second response essay due: Provide your own detailed reading of one of the poems Hoagland reads in "Three Tenors." Compare your thinking on it to his. Also, provide an overall description of how you respond to all the work you've read by the poet you've chosen. Again, how do your feelings about Pinsky, Hass, or Gluck relate to Hoagland's?

9/25

"Deep Image" poetry: read VB, James Wright. Photocopy poems and essay by Robert Bly: "The Three Brains."

Week 6

9/30

The Surrealist Current: VB: John Ashbery, Jorie Graham

10/2

Essay: Jonathan Holden, from Style and Authenticity in Contemporary American Poetry.
Third response essay due: draw on Holden in relating your sense of the relationship between the "Deep Image" and "Surrealism" as represented by our small sample of poems and criticism. Be personal in your responses, and bring Holden into your discussion.

Week 7

10/7

Jorie Graham (VB): "Over and Over Stich" and "San Sepolcro"
Hillman: review "The Spark" plus pages 7-12 ("Thicket Group)
Essay on Graham and Hillman, from Reading the Sphere, by Richard Silberg.
Workshop one poem.

10/9

Week 8

10/14

Hillman: parts three through five

10/16

Billy Collins
See review of Sailing Alone Around the Room on reserve.

Week 9

10/21

Billy Collins
Response essay four due: contrast the value systems you see at work behind the poems of Billy Collins and Brenda Hillman. Use a poem or two from each writer to point out key distinctions behind how each poet seems to view the world and the role of poetry in that world. In your mind, which kind of poetry is more significant? Why?

10/22

To Madison for Wisconsin Book Festival: Open Mike + Billy Collins reading.

10/23

In class: Yusef Komunyakaa, Mary Oliver, from VB.

Saturday, 10/25

Optional trip to Madison for a full day at the Book Festival

Week 10

10/28

Workshop formal essay one: bring hard copy and diskette version of a preliminary draft of your first formal essay

10/30

Ken McCullough, Obsidian Point

Week 11

11/4

Ken McCullough visits

11/6

Formal essay one due
New poems by Stephen Dobyns

Week 12

11/ 11

Beach, Christopher. "Poetic Positionings: Stephen Dobyns and Lyn Hejinian in Cultural Context." Poetic Culture: Contemporary American Poetry Between Community and Institution. Photocopy on reserve in the library.
Lyn Hejinian, My Life, 14-86.

11/13

Lyn Hejinian, My Life, 86-165.
Perloff, excerpt from "Return of the Numerically Repressed." Handout.
Bring one poem to class for workshop

Week 13

11/18

Dean Young, First Course in Turbulence
Richard Sillberg, "Lighthouse on a Dark Rock." on reserve in the library

11/20

Young, part two.
New final essay assignment

Week 14

11/25

Young, part three
Response essay five due: using 2 examples from each book, compare the use of non sequitur in Dean Young and Lyn Hejinian, answering some of these questions: How does it operate within the larger system of the book? What are its purposes? How does it influence your overall reading? More generally, what are the advantages and disadvantages of employing this technique? What kind of place do you think non sequitur should have in poetry (i.e., how do you like your non sequitur? sunny-side up?)?

11/27

-- No class: Thanksgiving

Week 15

Monday, 12/1, 11:00 A.M.: Proposal due for formal essay two: include email contact

12/2

Poems by Carolyn Forche, Joshua Beckman, Barbara Campbell, Mark Turcotte, Donald Revell, and Barrett Watten.

12/4

Workshop formal essay two: bring hard copy and diskette copy to class.

Final Exams

12/8-12/12

Tuesday, 12/9, 6:00 P.M.: class poetry reading: read 3-5 poems, with introductions and descriptions of the goals and intentions of those poems, perhaps drawn from the introduction to your portfolio.

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