ENGLISH 483: ADVANCED VERSE WORKSHOP 11:30 - 2:20 Thomson 231
- SYLLABUS:
A poet’s syllabus is always the same. In school or out, it amounts to reading, writing, and conversation. So, those are the elements of our syllabus.
Reading, of three kinds:
- From De/Compositions, details below.
- Reading for pleasure, daily, following your own nose. Strictly speaking, the assignment is to read something—at least one poem—every day. Liking it is the best part of the assignment, so find poems that elicit that effect. Keep a record of this self-directed reading on a page titled “Reading Log,” in your Portfolio. Feel free to draw from a “Recommended” file we’ll set up in the Anthology. We’ll all contribute to that as the term progresses.
- Memorization: this is the most intense way to know a poem. You should have one ready for recitation every other week, amounting to at least seventy lines by the end of the term. We’ll decorate each session with a few of these.
Writing, of three kinds:
- Pitches: that is, verses and sketches written to elastic prompt during the first (“Apprentice”) phase of the class.
- Original Poems, submitted for critical discussion during the second (“Journeyman”) phase of the class.
[N.B. To emphasize: all work submitted for class this term has to have been written this term. Old work, even major revisions of old work, is unlawful. I understand the inclination to use this class to get critical feedback on completed projects. It’s perfectly natural. But you’re on your honor not to do it.]
- Observatory Log: here, the assignment is simply to notice something every day, and jot it down.
Think of this as a perceptual exercise rather than a stylistic one. Try to catch the noticing before it becomes a thought. No meditations. The shorter the notation, the better. The point is to develop the habit of catching your mind in the act of interested attention, and recording that moment. Minimum of one per day; all entries dated; no back-dating.
[N.B. As is the case with the reading-for-pleasure assignment, this is a serious request. Call these the Habituation Suite: daily reading, daily jotting. The relentless dailiness is the point. No back-dating, no fabricated observations, on your honor. No 4.0 grade unless at term’s end you can raise your right hand and attest to having done and recorded these two things every day.]
Conversation:
Our class meetings. Rules of engagement per common sense and courtesy: punctuality, generosity, good humor, pluck. Everybody contributes to discussion, every time. Scrupulous work as a First Critic, following protocols we’ll discuss.
“Shotgun Method” for discussion of assigned readings. That means the discussion leader is chosen by lot. Everyone shows up with notes, thoughts and questions, prepared to kick things off. Not required, but you may wish to keep an informal reading journal, in this interest.
- OPERATIONS
Books:
Required: De/Compositions, by D. W. Snodgrass.
A little blank book, a Moleskine, or something like that, small enough to carry everywhere you go. It greatly eases and improves the Observatory.
Google Drive:
Our online site, with folders titled Library(see above), Class (class operations, syllabus, correspondence, etc.), Portfolios (all your work over the course of the term, compiled into a single GoogleDoc), and Pitches (sequential GoogleDocs, labeled for respective class sessions).
First Critics:
First Critics (assigned ahead of time) will read poems up for discussion, and follow with prepared remarks. I’ll suggest guidelines as the class goes on.
Generally speaking, the job is not to judge or evaluate, but rather to describe the poem. Final commentary should resolve in a few provisional thoughts and questions designed to frame subsequent round-table conversation.
Mission:
My job is to engage you in a lively conversation about poetry, and be as useful to your own practice as I can. How?
- I’m almost certain that the memorization will prove a gift to your future. These poems will impress people at parties, come in handy in traffic jams and intensify intimate moments. If you choose well, they may also save your sanity and give you courage when you most need it, in bumpy times to come.
- I’m equally sure that the observatory and reading log—our Habituation Suite—will prove useful in advancing your practice.
- As for critique—a thought I’ll repeat in class, with a little elaboration: I have imperfect faith in the so-called "workshop method." But with honesty and generosity in balance, avoiding certain predictable pitfalls, we can make it useful. It will depend a good deal on our methods.
Your job is to trust those, and throw yourself into this work, learning all you can. If you have thoughts, problems, unmet needs—please take them up with me. I’ll respond to e-mail, and I’ll keep office hours both weekly and by appointment.
Grading
Grades will be assigned on the basis of your performance in class, the quality of your Portfolio, and your responses to the questions posed in the Affidavit. The Affidavit is this syllabus recast in interrogatory form, to be signed on your word of honor and posted in your Portfolio at the end of term. Here are the questions you’ll be asked to answer:
Reading
- Did you do all the assigned reading, in time for the target class?
- Did you read, like (or try-to-like) and dutifully log at least one poem of your own choice, every day?
Writing
- Did you do all assigned prompts and pitches, in time for the target class?
- Did you keep the Observatory Log on your own, faithfully, daily?
Conversation
- Did you attend and participate in every class, and serve responsibly as First Critic when your turn came around?
- Did you successfully recite 70 lines of verse?
N.B. A simple “yes” is sufficient, if the case. If not, please elaborate in detail–ie, not “mostly,” but precisely which.
Practical Rules of Engagement
“Play for mortal stakes” (Robert Frost’s term), under the laws of courtesy. Apart from the obvious behaviors that last word suggests, I’d emphasize three:
—first, let’s operate on time.
—second, if you’re ill or otherwise unable to make it to class some day, please send me a note.
—third, let’s be only here, while we’re here. Barring emergencies, I’ll request that for the time we’re in company—from 10:30 to 11:50, including breaks—all electronic devices— phones and computers alike—should remain off. Believe it or not, I’m serious about this.
Otherwise, courage and good humor. This ought to be both demanding and fun. Let me know if you have problems, stresses or questions. I’ll post office hours during the first week of class.
Intellectual Rules of Engagement
Participation in this class presumes deliberate commitment to the traditional tenets of liberal education, founded on principles of free speech and civil discourse. The Chicago Statement is one current and widely subscribed articulation of these. The document endorsed by Middlebury College faculty, several of whose principal points are appended below, is another. I recommend that you glance at these, because they mandate the terms of our companionship and conversation.
I think all this should be taken for granted. Times suggest otherwise. So, to blunt the point: Literature has never been a “safe space.” In the classroom, as companions in conversation, we’re obliged to one another by the laws of courtesy. It goes without saying that nobody would hurt another’s feelings by intention. Unintentional bruisings, should they occur, must be forgiven. But note well: Literature has no such obligation toward us. Because its polestars are Beauty and Truth, not Kindness, it often proves careless of our feelings. Salman Rushdie (who knows something about uncharitable readerships) said “Nobody has the right to not be offended. That right doesn't exist in any declaration I have ever read.”
So, this is all the trigger-warning you’re going to get. If you’re concerned that a literary text or a comment offered in good faith in class might cause you “harm,” then run for cover before the dropout period ends.
APPENDICES
1: the Chicago Statement
https://provost.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/documents/reports/ FOECommitteeReport.pdf
2: Excerpted from the Middlebury Principles (full list first appearing in the Wall Street Journal on March 7, 2017):
Genuine higher learning is possible only where free, reasoned, and civil speech and discussion are respected.
Only through the contest of clashing viewpoints do we have any hope of replacing mere opinion with knowledge.
The incivility and coarseness that characterize so much of American politics and culture cannot justify a response of incivility and coarseness on the college campus.
The impossibility of attaining a perfectly egalitarian sphere of free discourse can never justify efforts to silence speech and debate.
Exposure to controversial points of view does not constitute violence.
No group of professors or students has the right to act as final arbiter of the opinions that students may entertain.
No group of professors or students has the right to determine for the entire community that a question is closed for discussion.
The purpose of college is not to make faculty or students comfortable in their opinions and prejudices.
The purpose of education is not the promotion of any particular political or social agenda.
The primary purpose of higher education is the cultivation of the mind, thus allowing for intelligence to do the hard work of assimilating and sorting information and drawing rational conclusions.
A good education produces modesty with respect to our own intellectual powers and opinions as well as openness to considering contrary views.
- UW Religious Accommodations Policy
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request
an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form