581 A Tuesday, 4 PM, Smith 111
Ars Poetica: Defense Update
A “Forms” class, fundamentally construed.
For roughly half the class, Professor will say what he thinks about the art, pitch writing assignments, and try to kindle following talk. For the other half of the class, seminar participants will be at liberty to identify topics of their own interest, assign related readings and prompts, and lead subsequent conversation.
For the Professor’s part: If sestinas and triolets are orchids in the topmost canopy, this class will ignore them, concentrating instead on stem and taproot. We’ll try to discern the elements of poetic reasoning, and infer a taxonomy of poetic technique. Much of this is prior to the fork between prose and verse; fiction students welcome. Some peculiar reading in cognitive science. Weekly prompts in an experimental spirit. Might be useful for prospective teachers of poetry at the introductory level.