English 227: Recent American Poetry
MWF 10:30-11:35
Roberts 207
Professor Kristen Case
Office: Roberts 204
Tel. 778-7239
Office Hours MWF 8:30-10:30
Required Texts (available at DD&G bookstore)
WS Merwin, The Shadow of Sirius. Copper Canyon Press
Alice Notley, The Decent of Alette. Penguin
Larry Levis, Elegy. University of Pittsburgh Press
Rae Armantrout, Versed. Weslyan UP
Louise Glück, The Wild Iris. Ecco
Juliana Spahr, This Connection of Everyone with Lungs. University of California Press
Jeffrey Thomson, Bird Watching in Wartime. Carnegie Mellon
Susan Howe, The Midnight. New Directions
Adrian Matejka, Mixology. Penguin
Carolyn Forche, The Country Between Us. Harper Perennial
Li-Young Lee, The City in Which I Love You
Major Assignments:
Attendance -5%
Regular Participation –5%
Daily Written Preparation –10%
Blog –20%
Midterm – 20%
Final paper – 30%
Presentation (close reading) – 10%
Attendance, Preparation and Participation:
Given the nature of this course, it is absolutely essential that you show up, and show up prepared, for class each day. I cannot emphasize this enough. This is a reading and discussion class as much as it is a writing class, and without a cohesive, committed group, we cannot have the productive, on-going conversation that will make it worthwhile. This is why attendance, preparation and participation represent such a high percentage of your grade.
Attendance alone will be worth 5%. Here is how I will calculate your attendance grade. This includes all absences, for whatever reason.
3 missed classes or fewer = A
4 missed classes = B
5 missed classes = C
6 missed classes =D
7 missed classes= F
If you miss 9 classes or more you will fail the class.
4 missed classes = B
5 missed classes = C
6 missed classes =D
7 missed classes= F
If you miss 9 classes or more you will fail the class.
Preparation and participation will be worth 5%. We will begin each day with a discussion of the reading, and I will expect everyone to contribute to this discussion. Needless to say, if you are not present, you cannot participate, so your participation & preparation grade will also suffer if you miss more than 3 classes.
Daily Written Preparation:
Along with the assigned reading, I will ask you to briefly answer a discussion question or two in writing for each class. You will hand in your responses every day at the beginning of class. These exercises cannot be made up if you miss class. Responses should be between 175 and 400 words, and you will receive full credit for a good faith effort. Discussion questions (along with reading assignments, etc.) will be posted on the class blog.
Blog:
As a way of both tracking and extending our ongoing in-class conversations, I will moderate a blog devoted to this class. Over the course of the semester, each student will be required to contribute at least six posts and six responses to the class blog, which all students will be required to read each week before discussion on Monday. You will write blog posts on every other text that we read, according to the schedule below. On the weeks during which you are not writing for the blog, you will write at least one comment before class discussion on Monday. Required blog posts should respond to readings or continue class discussions about readings, and should include quotations from the text(s) to which they respond. Comments should refer to particular points made in the original entry. Writing for the blog need not be formal in tone, but it should be written and proofread carefully. Entries and comments will be graded for their originality, clarity, style and level of detail. Individual blog entries will be graded and handed back each week. You will receive a single grade for comments at the end of the semester. Blog entries should be 500 words, minimum. Comments should be 200 words, minimum. Blogs that are handed in late will be graded down a full letter grade for each day they are late. Blogs that are more than one week late will be given a zero.
Bissonette,Amanda Leigh
Callahan,Shawn Earl
Chianese,Kate Mona
Coombs,Richard Roland
Cushing,Emily Rose
Devine,Megan Alyssa
Dubois,Renate Eloise
Gadberry,Benjamin Leonard
Halloran,Caroline Joy
Hill,Joana Mae
Group 2: (blogs for Merwin, Levis, Glück, Thomson, Matejka,Lee, responses to other 6)
Hyde,Katherine Joy
Johnson,Courtney
Kashar,Brittany Leigh
Koenig,Callie Victoria
Lowe,Kelsey Elizabeth
Lowe,Kelsey Elizabeth
Moody,Emily Suzanne
Moore,John Henry
Moore,Kelsey Elizabeth
Neptune,Alyssa Libby
Midterm:
For the midterm, I will ask you to write a short in-class essay comparing two poems, which you will select from a list.
Presentation:
Over the course of the semester, each of you will present a 5-10 minute close reading of a single poem. Please note: several of the books we’ll read this semester are highly experimental, and will thus require a different kind of close reading than you would do for a Shakespeare sonnet, for example. I highly recommend that you meet with me to discuss your poem in advance of your class presentation if you are at all unsure of how to proceed. Presentations will be graded on the originality, cohesiveness and depth of your interpretation, as well as your effectiveness as a communicator.
Final Paper:
Your final paper will be a 6-8 page discussion of one of the twelve poets we’ve read this semester, and how his or her work fits within the landscape of contemporary American poetry. The paper will rely principally on your understanding of the poet’s work, but should also draw on your knowledge of other poets and recent movements within late 20th/21st-century American poetry. Papers that are handed in late will be graded down a full letter grade for each day they are late. Papers that are more than one week late will be given a zero.
From the UMF Code of Academic Integrity:
Violations of academic integrity include, but are not limited to, the actions listed below.
PLAGIARISM: the representation of others’ words or ideas as one’s own. For example,
- Submitting as one’s own work an examination, paper, homework assignment, or other project (laboratory report, artistic work, computer program, etc.) that was created entirely or partially by someone else.
- Failure to use quotation marks to signal that one is using another person’s precise words. Even brief phrases must be enclosed in quotation marks.
- Creating an academically dishonest paraphrase. When paraphrasing (presenting another person’s ideas or information in one’s own words), one must find truly one’s own way of expressing the original meaning. Simply inserting synonyms into the source’s sentence structures is plagiarism.
- Failure to identify the source of quotations and paraphrases. Of course one must cite the source of quotations; one must also cite the source of ideas and information that is not common knowledge even when paraphrased (presented in one’s own words). Sources include unpublished as well as published items -- for example, books, articles, material on the Internet, television programs, instructors’ lectures, and people, including other students, friends, and relatives.
- Failure to identify the source of the elements of a nonverbal work (for example, a painting, dance, musical composition, or mathematical proof) that are derived from the work of others.
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Should you plagiarize in any of the ways outlined above, you will receive a zero for the course and be reported to the Student Conduct Officer.
Accommodations: UMF strives to provide equal educational opportunities for students with special needs due to disability. Please notify me if you need a reasonable accommodation to meet course requirements.
