21L.704 | Fall 2002 | Undergraduate

Studies in Poetry: "Does Poetry Matter"

Pages

Class # Topics
1 Introductions and such as that.
2 Lowell. Read the poems from Life Studies and History.
3 A video encounter with Lowell.
4 Lowell. The poems from For Lizzie and Harriett and The Dolphin.
5 Levertov. Poems 1968-72. Some specific advice will be forthcoming, but fare boldly forth on your own.
6 Levertov reads on video.
7 Levertov. This Great Becoming.
8 Rich. We’ll focus on her earlier poems.
9 Rich on video.
10 Rich, the later poems. Specific advice to follow.
11 Heaney. Read the poems from Death of a Naturalist and Field Work.
12 Heaney on video.
13 Heaney. Poems from Station Island and Seeing Things.
14 Pinsky. Pay close attention to An Explanation of America.
15 I hope Pinsky will visit our class today.
16 Pinsky. Sadness and Happiness.
17 Collins. Follow your eys, and ears, and heart.
18 First Essay due.
19 I hope to have MIT’s own Erica Funkhouser visit with us, not so much to talk about Collins as to discuss the nature of her own work, which is not readily available in affordable editions, alas.
20 Collins
21 Monahan
22 Jean Monahan will join us.
23 Monahan
24 Hodgen. I will expect at least a full account of your costume. Better yet, wear it so we can all applaud.
25 John Hodgen will visit us.
26 Hodgen
27 Schwartz
28 A visit from Lloyd Scwartz.
29 Second Essay due.
30 Schwartz
31 Rita Dove. Specific poems TBA.
32 Dove on video.
33 Dove
34 Tapscott
35 Tapscott will meet with us.
36 Tapscott
37-39 We’ll meander. I’ll advise you about some decent poetry websites, you can look back at some poems we slighted on our syllabus, or find poems in the Astley anthology. Come each session ready to read aloud a poem that strikes you, for whatever reason, and to define why that poem “matters” in your judgment.
40-41 Final presentations.

Texts

Astley, Neil ed. Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times. Newcastle: Bloodaxe, 2002.

Collins, Billy. Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems. New York: Random House, 2001.

Dove, Rita. Selected Poems. New York: Vintage Books, 1993.

Heaney, Seamus. Opened Ground. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1998.

Hodgen, John. Bread Without Sorrow: Poems. Spokane, Wash.: Lynx House Press, 2001.

Levertov, Denise. Poems: 1968-1972. New York: New Directions Publ. Corp.,1987.

___. This Great Unknowing. New York: New Directions Publ. Corp., 2000.

Lowell, Robert. Selected Poems. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1977.

Monahan, Jean. Believe It Or Not. Alexandria, VA: Orchises Press, 1999.

Pinsky, Robert. The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems, 1966-1996. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1996.

Rich, Adrienne. The Fact of a Doorframe: Poems Selected and New 1950-1984. New York: WW Norton & Company, 1994.

Schwartz, Lloyd. Cairo Traffic. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2000.

Tapscott, Steve. From the Book of Changes. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon, 2002.

Yes, it’s a healthy list. But it’s a big chore we’ve undertaken. I will be asking you to offer regular brief “reflections” on specific poems/poets, to write two short (5 page) and one longer (10-12 page) essay, and to offer a final in-class presentation. Come with questions, energy, a willingness to talk. This could be grand fun – but much of that will depend on you.

Additional Readings

Setting the terms:

in Poetry 180 (NY, Random House, 2003)

  • “Introduction”

Billy Collins, in After Confession (edited by Kate Sontag and David Graham; St. Paul MN, Graywolf Press, 2001)

  • “My Grandfather’s Tackle Box: The Limitations of Memory-Driven Poetry”

Dana Goia, Can Poetry Matter? (St. Paul MN, Graywolf Press, 1992)

  • “Introduction to the Tenth Edition”
  • “Can Poetry Matter?”

Seamus Heaney, The Redress of Poetry (NY, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1995)

  • “The Redress of Poetry”
  • Opened Ground (NY, Farrar Straus, and Giroux, 1998)
  • “Crediting Poetry”

Denise Levertov, New and Selected Essays (New Directions pb, 1992)

  • “The Poet in the World”
  • “Poetry, Prophecy, Survival”
  • “A Poet’s View”

Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider (Freedom CA, The Crossing Press, 1996)

  • “Poetry Is Not a Luxury”
  • “An Interview: Audre Lorde and Adrienne Rich”

Robert Lowell, Collected Prose (New York, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1887)

  • “Art and Evil”
  • “91 Revere Street”

Czeslaw Milosz, The Witness of Poetry (Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 1983).

Robert Pinsky, Democracy, Culture, and the Voice of Poetry (Princeton NY, Princeton University Press, 2002)

  • “Culture”
  • “Social Presence”
  • “Models of Culture”
  • “Conclusion”

Adrienne Rich, What Is Found There (NY, W. W. Norton, 1993)

  • “Woman and Bird”
  • “Voices from the Air”
  • “The Space for Poetry”
  • “Someone Is Writing a Poem”
  • “Not How to Write a Poem, But Wherefore”

The following resources are provided to students as aid for completing the essays described in the Syllabus section of this course site.

  • Thesis (PDF)
  • Paraphrasing (PDF)
  • Some Guidelines for Writing Papers (PDF)

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 3 sessions / week, 1 hour / session

Course Description

Extensive reading of works by major poets, including Lowell, Levertov, Rich, Heaney, Pinsky, and Dove. Emphasis on the evolution of each poet’s work and the questions of poetic influence and literary tradition. Instruction and practice in oral and written communication.

This is meant to be a discussion course. One factor that will legislate against this aim is the instructor’s digressive wordiness. We must all fight against that. The fundamental rule of thumb is that you ALWAYS are entitled to the floor. And a second is that attendance is a vital necessity because there is no way to “get the notes” or “make up for what you missed.” I will take attendance regularly, and give weight to your attendance record in your term grade.

Writing Assignments

Let’s get this business of extensions out of the way, right off. On that score, I am a total jerk. One thing totally frosts me – for you to stroll in a day or so late with a paper and say, “Can I turn this in, now?” What part of “No” don’t you understand? If you look at the due dates and feel you will be unable to write a satisfactory essay to be submitted then, talk to me as soon as possible. If you find yourself, on the due date, just not happy with what you’ve done, turn it in, let’s talk it over, and then revise and resubmit without penalty. Up to the end of the term, that is. I hate Incompletes almost as much as I hate the New York Yankees.

You will be required to write two 5-page analytic essays, each dealing with a specific poem from one of the assigned texts. I’d prefer you avoid poems we spend a lot of class time on. If you are unclear about what I expect, talk to me sooner rather than later. And don’t ever, ever, ever try “I’m busy” as an explanation of any dereliction. Let’s be frank: this is MIT. Everyone is busy, all of the time.

Your final project will be a more extended essay, running to 10-15 pages, and assessing how the work of one of our poets confronts the “real” world and its complexities. Tactically, work through the focused analysis of two or three specific poems.

Course Info

Departments
As Taught In
Fall 2002
Learning Resource Types
Written Assignments