There are three informal essays due throughout the term. They should be 3 pages. See the calendar for details on dates.
Here’s what I’m looking for in the short paper. In these first few weeks of the class, we’re focusing on various objective features of poems:
- patterns of rhythm
- patterns of sound
- patterns of syntax (the grammar of sentences)
- kinds of words
- kinds of images
- kinds of lines
Ultimately, this kind of examination of the poem as a formally shaped linguistic artifact underpins larger understandings of what it says, what it does, and the aesthetic or emotional effects it produces. But right now, I want you to stay in information-gathering mode.
Pick one of the poems that we will have read by the due date of this paper, and record everything you are able to observe about the poem—from class discussion and your own examination. It’s fine to have intuitions and responses, and good to record them, even to transform them into questions (“there is something strange about this line—what makes it stand out?”). But try not to have a thesis—as Bunk says on “The Wire,” have “soft eyes.” Detail and precise description are more important.
Obviously, this is not a formal essay; think of it as a combination of a blog and a lab report. You’re writing up the results of questions you have asked about the poem. You’ll need to make sure that you have a way to describe clearly and precisely what you’re observing, and you’ll need to find some kind of shape for what you write. (For instance, a sequence of questions that you’ve asked). A final sentence or paragraph detailing the 3–5 most interesting things you noticed would be a plus, but since you aren’t making an argument, you won’t need a conclusion!
