This site’s design is only visible in a graphical browser that supports web standards, but its content is accessible to any browser or Internet device.

Classes » Spring 2003 » ENGL406/406-G:
Advanced Poetry Writing Workshop

Texts   Assignments   Attendance   Grading

Course Description

Tuesdays, 6:00-9:00 PM, EA 102.

This is a course for experienced writers of poetry. Its goal is to expand your skills as a writer as well as to expose you to a wide range of contemporary poetic styles, some of which you will be asked to emulate as exercises.

The Advanced Workshop meets in a three-hour time slot once per week. During the first hour, we will discuss any reading assigned for class, the work of poets who are visiting campus or are reading in Boise, or general questions of poetics, and will perhaps attempt some in-class writing. The second two hours are intended for workshop discussion.   TOP

Texts

Things Are Happening, Beckman
The Next Ancient World, Hecht
Works and Texts, Phillips
Tea, Powell
Spar, Volkman

The weekly poems of your fellow students

Bring the appropriate texts to every class meeting. All texts are required. PLEASE PURCHASE BY FEBRUARY 1, 2003. The Boise State University Bookstore begins returning unsold textbooks the following week, and several of the texts may be difficult to acquire otherwise.   TOP

Assignments

Writing: You will write approximately a poem per week, and many of these poems will be shared with other students through the workshopl Poems are due at the start of class, and you may most easily distribute these by placing one at each seat before class begins. Besure to make enough copies for everyone in the class as well as one for me.

As experienced poets, you are expected to approach each writing assignment seriously. Ideally, your poem should be taken as far as you can take it before you bring it to the workshop, though that will not be possible every week. If you have trouble coming up with an assignment for yourself, I'll provide a writing prompt. You may have two "no poem" weeks during the semester.

Workshop: Workshop discussions are focused on the craft of poetry: these are not personal growth sessions, political salons, religio/philosophical seminars, or improv opportunities. You are expected to give your full attention to the work of others in the class and to write a brief, respectful and pertinent critique of each poem submitted to the workshop. Two copies of these should be brought to class: one for the author of the poem, and one to be handed in to me.

The student to the right of the poet being critiqued will read all or part of the poem out loud; the student to the left of the poet will make the first comment to open discussion. One student shall be chosen as timekeeper. At the end of discussion time, the poet may give a brief response to the discussion or ask the workshop a question that was not addressed during discussion. Everyone's work will be read aloud and discussed in class.

Critiquing: See "Workshop" above for the written element of this assignment. You will write critiques on the poems for workshop, with the goal being to have something constructive (positive as well as critical) to say during workshop discussion. The other element of this assignment is class participation. This is not a lecture class; it depends upon the discussion generated while we are in workshop. Everyone, regardless of shyness or self-doubt, is required to participate.

Reading Assignments: You are responsible for preparing all the reading assigned for the next class. I want you to read like writers:

-  Look up every word or term that is new to you, and be prepared to define them in class.
-  Think about whatever formalisms appear in a poem, and be able to discuss them. By formalisms, I mean structural elements (repetition, meter, placement on the page) as well as rhymes and common formal patterns such as sestinas or pantoums.
-  What is innovative about the poem? What have you seen before?
-  What references (implied or stated) does the poem depend upon? What poets appear to have been influences?

These prompts are also appropriate when you are reading the workshop poems.   TOP

Attendance

This class meets only sixteen times, so your attendance is essential. The workshop is like a crucible: its purpose is in what happens inside it, and whatever is inside is not shared with the outside. Your commitment to attend each session contributes to the sense of trust and growth that is necessary for productive critique and revision. In addition, of course, you are not present, you cannot contribute to discussions, offer critique to a peer, or hear the suggestions of others.

For that reason, ONLY ONE absense is permitted. After that, your course grade will be reduced by half a letter grade for each unexcused absence. In addition, your work will not be critiqued for the week you return. PLEASE NOTIFY ME if you know you will be absent, although after the first absence you should not expect to be excused. It is possible to fail the class through poor attendance alone.

Please do not bring your dinner or other food to class.   TOP

Grading

Getting a good grade in ENGL406 is not contingent on your writing a poem the professor "likes." You are encouraged to experiment freely. Components of your final grade include your attendance in class, your completion of assignments when due, your class participation, and the quality of your work on the assignments outlined above and in the final portfolio. There will be no midterm or final exam. If, at midterm, you want to discuss your progress, please make an appointment with me. The final portfolio should present at least eight of your best poems written in the class. We will have a final reading of ENGL406 students on campus, to which you may invite others, during our final class meeting. Participation in the reading is the culminating event of the class.   TOP