ENGL 510
ADVANCED POETRY WRITING

Catalog Entry

English 510. Advanced Poetry Writing
Three hours lecture (3).

For students wishing to develop potential in poetry writing. May be taken twice for credit. Approved for Graduate Credit: Appropriate requirements for students taking this course for graduate credit will be established by the instructor.

Detailed Description of Content of Course

I. Students create poetry assignments at the rate of approximately one every two weeks. The majority of the assignments must be in set forms (sonnet, blank verse, villanelle, sestina, etc.); the remaining may be free verse. Emphasis is on developing skills in a variety of forms.
II. Students read in various texts such as Lewis Turco's The New Book of Forms, Paul Fussell's Poetic Meter and Poetic Form, and Dacey & Jauss's Strong Measures:

Contemporary American Poetry in Traditional Forms about the creation and composition of poetry and discuss the contemporary significance of poetic forms.

Detailed Description of Conduct of Course

I. Students write poems and bring photocopies of their work to class. Manuscript preparation follows professional guidelines used in submission of material to magazine editors.
II. A workshop format requires students to read their work to their classmates for comment, criticism, and commendation on how effectively the form chosen suits theme and subject. In addition, this workshop format requires students to be active listeners and critics of their classmates' work. Students build on skills learned in English 310 as they offer and receive criticism in mature ways. They better their analytical skills as they determine whether poems submitted do or do not fulfill the requirements of a set form. They sharpen editorial skills as they respond to work they hear.
III. While student work and reading take priority, there is ample time for lecture and discussion of poetic forms, and for reading contemporary models. Students often determine the topic for discussion based on problems they are having with composition.
IV. Special Projects

• Students at this advanced stage become keenly interested in submitting work for publication, either to the campus literary magazine or to other magazines.
• Students are expected to give a poetry reading to which their friends are invited.
• Students are encouraged to participate in the annual campus creative writing contest, which offers monetary prizes.
• Students are expected to attend poetry readings sponsored by the Department of English Creative Writing Committee.
• Interested students may have an opportunity to give readings and discuss their works at nearby high schools. class and share their work with students.

Goals and Objectives of the Course

• Students should develop a sense of being a writer, by experiencing a full writer's process, including but not limited to invention, drafting, revision, performance, editing, and production. They should learn to analyze that process (established in ENG 310) to continue discovering their own strengths, weaknesses, and goals as writers. By writing often (both in-class and out of class) and reading widely (outside reading is both assumed and required), students continue to deal with issues of poetic craft.
• Students should continue to develop the ability to critique their own work and the work of others and develop an understanding of audience concerns.

Assessment Measures

Student performance in this course may be evaluated in areas including but not necessarily limited to the following: 1) workshop contributions--comments on other students' poems, comments on reading assignments, craft presentations; 2) the reader's journal, poem drafts, writing process essay to preface the final portfolio; 3) public reading; 4) the portfolio.

When compiling a creative writing portfolio, student writers learn that revision is a long-term, recursive process. As they share drafts with peers and the instructor, these writers become aware of audience needs. Through reflection on and response to such conversations, students revise their work into a portfolio representative of their best writing.

Other Course Information

English 510 builds on the foundation laid in English 310 by permitting students to develop a more comprehensive and more sophisticated understanding of the craft of poetry. The conduct of this course sets an excellent model for students who might teach creative writing. Teachers of this course have regular contact with public school teachers, and are invited to lead workshops for high school teachers.

REVIEW AND APPROVAL

DATE ACTION APPROVED BY
March 1999