Required

Texts

The Norton Anthology of Poetry, Shorter Fifth Edition

Edited by Margaret Ferguson, Jon Stallworthy, and Mary Jo Salter (ISBN 0393979210)

Poetic Designs: An Introduction to Meters, Verse Forms, and Figures of Speech

By Stephen Adams (ISBN 1551111292)

Grading Distribution

Participation (Attendance, Class Discussion, NoteBoard,

Attending Poetry Reading): 15%

First Paper (3-4 pp.): 15%

Second Paper (5-6 pp.): 20%

Third Paper: (6-8 pp.): 25%

Midterm: 10%

Final Exam: 15%

E28

Overview

E28A is an introductory course designed to provide English and Literary Journalism majors and those fulfilling humanistic inquiry requirements with a general overview of the history and development of poetic forms. Through class discussion and informal written responses to the reading, you will develop your ability to critically analyze poetic texts. You will also cultivate close reading skills and achieve familiarity with forms of figurative language and structural elements of poetry. In addition, in the three formal writing assignments you will increase your critical writing skills by arguing for your own analysis and interpretation of the poems we read.

Course

Objectives

In this course, we’ll examine what haunts poetic form—the preoccupations and influences of individual poets—and the locations that poetry haunts—its engagement with physical landscapes and contemporary cultural concerns. We’ll stalk the corridors of literature, visiting the erotic elegies of Shakespeare's sonnets, Romantic wanderers, fin-de-siécle decadent visions, the horrors of trench poetry, and living American writers. By examining poets’ responses to the writers who came before them, we’ll seek definitions of poetry that spring from within poetic traditions. We’ll also ask how arts like painting and music shadow poetry, haunting us through visual arrangements on the page and spoken sound. Our emphasis will be on understanding how and why the afterlives of experience find expression in verse. Class discussions will go a long way toward achieving this goal, but this is also a writing-intensive class. By the end of the quarter, you’ll have learned a vocabulary for talking about poetry and you’ll have gotten a lot of practice putting that vocabulary to work.

Communication

As your instructor, I’m giving you as much time and energy as I possibly can this quarter. I’m passionate about teaching this material, and I hope to get you excited about it too. In return, I ask that you respect some guidelines for communicating with me and behaving courteously to your fellow students. Email is the best way for us to stay in contact, but when you send me a message, expect that I will not reply for at least 24 hours. I do not respond to questions about assignments the day before they’re due, nor do I discuss exams the day before they’re scheduled. Plan ahead so that I have plenty of time to help you be prepared. Papers will be returned with comments 7-10 days after they are due. Please shut your laptops during classtime: we’re reading some complicated stuff, and I need your full attention. Be absolutely sure your cell phones are off: those whose phones ring repeatedly are disturbing others and will be asked to leave the classroom. And come to office hours. They’re a more informal setting where we can talk one-on-one and I can address your individual interests and questions.

Formal

Papers

Each of the three assigned papers should present a coherent, argumentative thesis about poems that we have read in this class. This thesis should be supported with a well-organized, detailed analysis of specific figurative language and verse structures. You will be given focused topics to write on as we approach the assignments; if you would like to develop your own paper topic, please discuss it with me during office hours. All E28 courses, this one included, require working drafts to be turned in before final versions. Final papers without working drafts will not be accepted. I encourage you to visit office hours or schedule conferences with me to discuss revisions of working drafts. Plan ahead: I cannot discuss assignments in the 24 hours before they are due.

Paper Format and

Due Dates

All drafts should be typed, double-spaced, and have standard one-inch margins. Paper format (including textual citations) should follow correct MLA style. Papers are due in hard copy at the beginning of class on the scheduled days. I do not accept papers by email. Every day a paper is late, it will be marked down a third of a letter grade (B becomes a B- and so on). I am happy to grant extensions if needed, but you must talk to me in person at least one week before the paper is due.

Participation

English 28B is an intensive reading course largely focused on class discussions about the primary texts. Therefore, you should always come to class, with closely read and annotated texts in hand, prepared for lively discussion. You will be expected to contribute actively to class discussions and a significant part of your participation grade will be based on these contributions. Participation means much more than just attendance!

Attendance

You should attend every class, on time. One unexcused absence will not be detrimental to your grade, but every subsequent absence will adversely affect it. More than three unexcused absences will be grounds for failure in the class, regardless of your performance on graded assignments. You must speak to me in person if you do not want to lose credit for missing a class. Absences that result from documented emergencies will be excused, but it your responsibility to submit the documentation to me.

Note

Board

We’ll use the EEE noteboard to continue class discussions as well as to address issues that don’t come up in class. These electronic discussions are informal, but standards of courtesy should be observed by all participating. You should read the noteboard regularly and post to it at least once a week.

Poetry

Reading

We’re lucky enough to have a top-ranked graduate program in creative writing at our university. Poets and fiction writers come here from all over to world to develop their craft. They give readings several times a quarter, and these events are a great opportunity to learn more about poetry in action. You should attend at least one of these readings with the intent of discovering how poets are still using the tools we’re learning about in class.

Midterm and Final Exam

The midterm will be a set of identification and short answer questions designed to test your knowledge of the vocabulary we learn in the first half of the term. The final exam will be a cumulative, in-class essay exam. You will be asked to demonstrate your mastery of the texts we have considered over the course of the quarter as well as exercise your analytic skills in constructing a convincing argument. We will discuss the final exam as it approaches at the end of the quarter.

Plagiarism

All papers should include a "Works Cited" page listing all secondary sources used in writing your paper. This includes dictionaries, encyclopedias, web sites, critical articles--in short, any information and ideas from outside sources that contributed to your writing process. Failure to cite sources or submission of work written by someone else as your own is grounds for failure in the class and disciplinary action by the Dean of Studies. All students are responsible for reading the UCI Academic Honesty Policy (available online at http://www.senate.uci.edu/9_IrvineManual/3ASMAppendices/Appendix08.html ). If you have specific questions about what constitutes plagiarism, please ask. In order to discourage academic dishonesty in this class, all final drafts may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to http://www.turnitin.com/ for the detection of plagiarism.

Add/Drop Policy and Second-Day Rule

The School of Humanities has a "Second-Day" rule: if you are not in class on the second day (and do not have an emergency to account for your absence), you may lose your place to students on the waiting list. If you lose your place in the class because you missed the second day, you will still have to drop the course through the usual procedures. The Add/Drop policy for all courses in the School of Humanities states that adds and drops must be effected prior to the end of the second week of classes. In order to drop the class, you must get a signed drop card from the instructor and take it to the Registrar. After the first two weeks of class, you must contact E28 Course Director Carol Burke regarding all drop requests.

The Haunts of Poetry Instructor:Mia L. McIver

E28A Section A mmciver@uci.edu

Office Hours: Mondays 10-12 at the PhoenixGrille (and by appointment)

Texts

Grading Distribution

Note

Board