Syllabi

HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH NOVEL II

ENGL 4210/5210, Fall 2003

Professor: Dr. Jeffrey Franklin. Phone: 303-556-4026 (home: 720-570-2923, 9am-9pm).

E-mail: Jeff.Franklin@cudenver.edu.

Class: Time: Monday & Wednesday, 2:30-3:45pm. Location: WC 159.

Office: Office hour times: Monday & Wednesday 1:00-2:00 and 4:00-6:00, and at other times by appointment. Please feel free to show up during any of those hours and to phone or e-mail to make an appointment or ask a question. Location: 1051 9th Street Park, #101.

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TEXTS

Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop (1840), Oxford UP, 1-19-282924-6

Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), Oxford UP, 0-19-283462-2

Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White (1859), Oxford UP, 0-19-283429-0

George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871-1872), Oxford UP 0-19-283402-9

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Oxford UP

Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure (1895), Norton Critical Edition, 0-393-97278-X

Rudyard Kipling, Kim (1901), Oxford UP, 1-19-283513-0

D. H. Lawrence, Women in Love (1920), Oxford UP, 0-19-282995-5

Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (1927), Harcourt, 0-15-690739-9

The course also will draw upon three source books, which are on reserve in the library: Theory of the Novel, edited by Michael McKeon; The Victorian Novel, edited by Francis O’Gorman, and A Companion to the Victorian Novel, edited by Patrick Brantlinger and William B. Thesing. I certainly do not expect anyone to buy these books; however, I would like all of you to peruse them.

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COURSE GOALS

This course is the second of a two-part history of the English novel, though I will not assume that you have taken the first course. We will closely read, hotly discuss, and intensely write about a representative sampling of the “great” novels written roughly between the 1820s and the 1920s. Since about 40,000 novels were published in England in the 19th century alone, our sampling is necessarily small. During this period, the novel was to British society what television and cinema are to 21st-century American society: a primary form of entertainment and a primary cultural medium for reflecting society back to itself. Thus we will read novels within the historical, social, and cultural contexts of which they were a part. Of course, we also will read the way people always have read novels—for pleasure. I have selected our texts on the basis of three criteria: 1) they are representative of the diversity of novelistic forms, styles, and themes produced during our period; 2) they introduce you (if you haven’t already been introduced) to some of the most important novels in English by some of the most renowned novelists in our language; 3) I love them. Finally, we will consider throughout the course questions of genre. How can we even talk about “the novel” when there are so many types? What formal features and thematic concerns distinguish novels from other forms of writing? In what ways has the tremendously successful commercialization of the novel shaped its form and content? What changes or new variations occurred in novels during our period? How do novels represent and speak to their society and time but also continue to speak to our society and time?

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COURSE REQUIREMENTS

A course at this level assumes several things. It assumes very thorough reading, reading that is engaged and critical and that prepares you to come to class with questions and insights to share. The pages of your books should show signs of your passage through them in the form of notations and underlinings. Although I periodically will lecture, the dominant genre of our class meetings will be the conversation—between you and me and between you and other members of the class. So, another assumption is that you will come to class not prepared to sit back and listen but rather prepared to jump into the discussion with energy and to argue—in the positive sense—over interpretations. This also assumes that you will be present at nearly all of our gatherings. If you fulfill these three assumptions, you are likely to make a good grade in the course, to learn a great deal, and, I wager, to have a good time doing it.

In addition, the course requires three types of assignments for undergraduate students and four types of assignment for graduate students:

1) Mini-Essays (for all students): These are to be one-page, typed, single-spaced and to focus on a specific compelling question that you have about the work of literature, a question that is compelling because it does not have an obvious, factual, or yes/no answer and because answering it expands our understanding of the novel. I will be giving you a hand-out that more fully defines what I mean by “compelling question.” I will grade largely on two factors: how compelling the essay makes its question (which is not the same thing as how “big” it is—it might focus on a very small aspect of the text) and how much detailed attention the essay gives to the words of the text in looking for answers to its question. Over the course of 16 weeks, you will write six mini-essays on six different novels. Mini-essays are due on the final day that we discuss that novel in class (though they may be turned in earlier, too). Mini-essays may—and probably should—be rewritten in response to my feedback in order to learn more and to raise the grade. Rewrites are due two weeks after you receive back my comments.

2) Weekly Quizzes (for all students): As motivation to encourage timely and thorough reading, I will give a short, objective quiz each Wednesday covering the reading for that class and the previous class. Material covered in lecture may also be on the quiz.

3) Required Office Visit and Re-write (required only of undergraduate students, optional good karma for graduate students): I encourage all students to come into my office periodically to share any concerns you have, ask questions, discuss an essay, and receive feedback for rewriting. In addition to this standing invitation, all undergraduates are required to come into my office at least once during the first half of the semester for this purpose. When should you come? The best time would be after you have received my written comments on your first or second mini-essay. Part of this assignment is then to rewrite that essay. You get part of the grade just for showing up in my office; the other part of the grade will be based on whether or not you do rewrite and how responsive you are in rewriting your essay.

4) Class Presentation (required only of graduate students, optional extra-credit for ambitious undergraduates): This should be a focused, well-organized 20-minute presentation on the required additional reading for graduate students. In effect, you will teach that material to the class. Thus your presentation should: 1) introduce the material in a way that brings out what is interesting in it; 2) provide a more detailed analytical summary of it, outlining the main points and why they are important or useful to know; 3) answer any questions the class has about that material; 4) apply that reading to the current novel or to the novels in the course, expanding upon and possibly departing from the scholarly source to think out loud about its implications for understanding the history of the novel as a genre(s); and, 5) leave the class with one or two questions or issues to be discussed. I will be there as to support what you are doing.

5) Final Research Essay (required of graduate students only): This is to be a substantial, research essay focused on one or more of the primary works. I recommend that you start by selecting the work(s) that interests you most, then narrowing to a specific question or argument about that work, then looking for outside sources relevant not only to that work but to that specific aspect of that work. A visit to my office would be useful; I can help you focus the topic and locate sources. Then you need to gather your outside sources, read them thoroughly, take detailed notes, especially selecting passages from the sources that you might want to refute or use to support a claim of yours. Again, I can give you guidance in how to do this. I encourage you to make multiple office visits in the process of preparing this essay; I am glad to look at early drafts. The essay should end up at around 15 pages, but I’m less concerned with page-count than with substance. Note: Sources from the web may be used, but only on these conditions: the source also has been published on paper and is fully documented with author, title, date, and especially page numbers—every quotation or paraphrase must be cited by page number.

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GRADING
Undergrads Grads

Mini-Essays (6): 55% 50%

Weekly Quizzes: 30% 20%

Required Office Visit and Re-write: 10%

In-class presentation: 5%

Final Research Essay: 25%
Contribution to Course Energy and Thought: 5%

TOTAL: 100% 100%

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ONLY TWO RULES

1. Attendance is critical to how much you learn from this course, and so it is required. As a general policy, there are no “excused” absences; you are either there or you aren’t, and I keep a record. I do appreciate being told in advance that you will be absent. In order to give everyone some leeway—for personal or medical emergencies and work, family, or religious obligations—I will accept three (3) free cuts, no problem, no questions asked. Use them wisely (or, better, don’t use them at all). After that, each absence will take three points off of your final grade. This quickly leads to dropping a letter. Also, multiple late arrivals or early departures will add up to an absence, though I will ask you nicely several times first.

2. Your work must be your own; otherwise you fail, or worse. Plagiarism consists of copying someone else's work, quoting or paraphrasing others’ work without footnoting, or having someone write part or all of your paper for you. It is the most serious academic offense and can mar your whole academic career. Be especially careful about “borrowing” from the web; professors know how to find those sites too. If you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism, please ask me or consult any standard college handbook.

A request: Out of mutual respect, please turn off all electronic devices upon entering our classroom. Thanks.

SEVEN UN-RULES

1. You can assume that your interpretive point of view is as valid as anyone else's and deserves to be heard. I would like to hear it.

2. You can ask questions that you think might sound dumb, and I hope you do, because others in the class nearly always have that same question and are afraid to ask it and will be grateful to you for having the courage to do so. I will be grateful to you.

3. You can speak out in class without raising your hand, assuming relevance to the ongoing discussion. I hope you will.

4. You can respond directly to other members of the class without going through the teacher, assuming civility and goodwill.

5. You can challenge the teacher directly if you disagree, assuming civility and goodwill.

6. You can address the teacher as Dr. Franklin or Jeff or Lurgan Sahib.

7. You can assume that the teacher does not have the single “right” interpretation or, indeed, that there is no single right interpretation (which even so does not preclude the existence of inaccurate, illogical, or insupportable interpretations).

Potentially Useful Contacts (I know you’ve seen these, but here they are again):

UCD English Department Writing Center (for help with your essays, grammar, etc.):

CN 206, 303-556-4845

Learning Assistance Center (for general tutoring): NC 2006, 303-556-2802

Student Advocacy Center (for advice from seasoned students on anything): NC 2012, 303-556-2546

Student Counseling Center (for free, confidential consultation and therapy with professionals): NC 4036, 303-556-4372

ENGL 4210/5210 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Schedule

This schedule is subject to day-to-day revision. The date is when the assignment is due.

Week 1: Getting Started / Dickens and the Comic Picaresque Tradition

Aug 18 Introductions, syllabus review, your questions, that sorta thing.

Aug 20 Read Dickens’s Old Curiosity Shop, at least through chapter 124, p. 118. Please make use of the footnotes, beginning on page 585, as you read. Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): the editor’s introduction; also take a look at the appendices.

Week 2: Dickens, continued

Aug 25 Read Old Curiosity Shop at least through chapter 37, p. 285

Aug 27 Read Old Curiosity Shop at least through chapter 55, p. 416. Likely quiz today, and on most Wednesdays. Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): In Theory of the Novel, “Ian Watt, From The Rise of the Novel,” pp. 363-381 (Also recommended, but not required, in The Victorian Novel, “Extract from Raymond Williams, The English Novel,” 153-159). First graduate student presentation today.

Week 3: A Labor Day for Kit

Sep 1 Labor Day. No classes.

Sep 3 Finish Old Curiosity Shop. Quiz likely. Mini-essays on Old Curiosity Shop are due by today at the latest.

Week 4: The Domestic Realism of Anne Brontë

Sep 8 Read Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall through Volume I, p. 161. Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): the editor’s introduction to the novel.

Sep 10 Read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall through Volume II, p. 323. Quiz likely. Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): In The Victorian Novel, “Feminism and the Victorian Novel in the 1970s,” pp. 66-71, and in Theory of the Novel, “Nancy Armstrong, From Desire and Domestic Fiction,” pp. 467-475. Second grad student presentation today.

Week 5: The Sensation Novel: Wilkie Collins

Sep 15 Finish The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Mini-essays on Tenant due by today. DUE DATE: At least one essay must be turned in by today for all students.

Sep 17 Read The Woman in White at least through “The End of Hartright’s Narrative,” p. 127. Please make use of the footnotes, beginning on p. 669, as you read. I recommend not reading the editor’s introduction—it will give away the plot. Quiz likely.

Week 6: Count Fosco is Phat: Sensation Fiction continued

Sep 22 Read The Woman in White at least through Chapter VI of the “Second Epoch,” p. 293. Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): In A Companion to the Victorian Novel, “The Sensation Novel” by Winifred Hughes, pp. 260-278. Third graduate student presentation today.

Sep 24 Read The Woman in White, through the “Second Epoch” to p. 419. Quiz likely.

Week 7: Multi-plot High Realism Comes of Age: Middlemarch

Sep 29 Finish The Woman in White. Mini-essays on Woman in White due by today. Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): the editor’s introduction, plus take a look at the appendices.

Oct 1 Read Middlemarch, Book 1, to page 118. Quiz likely. Please make use of the footnotes, beginning on page 823, as you read. Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): the editor’s introduction.

Week 8: The “Baggy Monster” continued

Oct 6 Read Middlemarch, though Book III, p. 315. Yom Kippur. Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): In The Victorian Novel, “Form and the Victorian Novel,” pp. 213-227, including extracts from Dorothy Van Ghent’s The English Novel: Form and Function” and Peter Garrett’s The Victorian Multiplot Novel. Fourth graduate student presentation today.

Oct 8 Read Middlemarch though Book V, p. 523. Quiz likely.

Week 9: Moral Realism as the Salvation of Society

Oct 13 Read Middlemarch through Book VI, p. 626.

Oct 15 Finish Middlemarch. Quiz likely. Mini-essays on this novel due by today. DUE DATE: All students must turn in at minimum a second mini-essay by today. Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): In Theory of the Novel, “George Levine, From The Realistic Imagination, pp. 613-631 (also recommended but not required: in The Victorian Novel, “Extract from Catherine Belsey, Critical Practice,” 121-133). Fifth graduate student presentation today.

Week 10: Third-Wave Gothic, according to Oscar Wilde

Oct 20 Read The Picture of Dorian Gray, the first half or so. Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): the editor’s introduction and appendices.

Oct 22 Finish The Picture of Dorian Gray. Quiz likely. Mini-essays on this novel due by today. Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): In A Companion to the Victorian Novel, “Victorian Theories of the Novel” by Joseph Childers, pp. 406-423. Sixth graduate student presentation today.

Week 11: The Tragic Social Realism of Thomas Hardy

Oct 27 Read in the Norton Critical Edition of Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure, the two editorial prefaces, pp. vii-xii; the section in the back titled “Locale,” pp. 361-367; and, most importantly, the excerpt from Irving Howe, pp. 393-404. You may also begin reading the novel, if you like. Ramadan begins.

Oct 29 Read Jude the Obscure at least through the second part, p. 102. Quiz likely. Halloween on the 31st.

Week 12: Thomas Hardy’s World, continued

Nov 3 Read Jude the Obscure through the fourth part, p. 201. Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): In the back of the Norton Critical Edition of the novel, the pieces by Lawrence, Guerard, Gittings, McDowell, and Boumelha, starting on p. 412. I especially recommend the Lawrence selection to all students as a means of preparing to read Lawrence’s Women in Love later in the course. Seventh graduate student presentation today.

Nov 5 Finish Jude the Obscure. Mini-essays on this novel due by today. Quiz likely. This is a red-letter day.

Week 13: Masculine Romance as the Adventure of Empire: Kipling’s Kim

Nov 10 Read Kipling’s Kim, at least through chapter V, p. 96. Please make use of the notes beginning on p. 290. Quiz likely. It certainly is not too early for graduate students to begin research and make office visits for the final essay.

Nov 12 Finish Kim. Mini-essays on this novel due by today. Quiz likely. Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): In The Victorian Novel, “Postcolonial Readings,” 306-323, including extracts from Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s “Three Women’s Texts and a Critique of Imperialism” and Firdous Azim’s The Colonial Rise of the Novel. Eighth graduate student presentation today.

Week 14: The War of the Sexes in a Time of War: The Modernist Realism of D. H. Lawrence

Nov 17 Read Women in Love, at least through chapter X, p. 112.

Nov 19 Read Women in Love, at least through XXIII, p. 333. Quiz likely. Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): the editor’s introduction to the novel.

Week 15: Modernist Stream-of-Consciousness Fiction: Virginia Woolf

Nov 24 Finish Women in Love. Mini-essays on this novel due by today. Graduate students should have identified and located all outside sources for the final essay. An office visit would be a good idea.

Nov 26 Read Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse Thanksgiving tomorrow! Additional required reading for graduate students (optional, extra credit for undergraduates): In Theory of the Novel, “Subjectivity, Character, Development,” pp. 485-491, and “Modernism,” pp. 733-738,” and “Virginia Woolf, Modern Fiction, pp. 739-744. Final graduate student presentation today.

Week 16: What is the Lighthouse?

Dec 1 Finish To the Lighthouse. Mini-essays on this novel due by today.

Dec 3 Class is optional for undergraduates. Graduate students come to class with as much of an essay as you have at this point and a complete bibliography of sources. Be prepared to present the compelling question or working thesis of your essay and to talk through some or all of the essay’s trajectory and argument.

Week 17: Finals Week

Dec 8 For graduate students only, the final essay is due at the regular class time and place (or earlier in my office). Buddhist Bodhi Day.

FIN

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ADDITIONAL READING

With Dickens: In Theory of the Novel, “Ian Watt, From The Rise of the Novel,” pp. 363-381 (Also recommended, but not required, in The Victorian Novel, “Extract from Raymond Williams, The English Novel,” 153-159)

With Brontë: In The Victorian Novel, “Feminism and the Victorian Novel in the 1970s,” pp. 66-71, and in Theory of the Novel, “Nancy Armstrong, From Desire and Domestic Fiction,” pp. 467-475

With Collins: In A Companion to the Victorian Novel, “The Sensation Novel” by Winifred Hughes, pp. 260-278.

With Eliot: In The Victorian Novel, “Form and the Victorian Novel,” pp. 213-227, including extracts from Dorothy Van Ghent’s The English Novel: Form and Function” and Peter Garrett’s The Victorian Multiplot Novel

With Hardy: In Theory of the Novel, “George Levine, From The Realistic Imagination, pp. 613-631 (also highly recommended but not required: in The Victorian Novel, “Extract from Catherine Belsey, Critical Practice,” 121-133)

With Wilde: In A Companion to the Victorian Novel, “Victorian Theories of the Novel” by Joseph Childers, pp. 406-423, perhaps with Wilde

With Kipling: In The Victorian Novel, “Postcolonial Readings,” 306-323, including extracts from Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s “Three Women’s Texts and a Critique of Imperialism” and Firdous Azim’s The Colonial Rise of the Novel

With Lawrence: In Theory of the Novel, “Marthe Robert, From Origins of the Novel,” pp. 57-69

With Woolf: In Theory of the Novel, “Subjectivity, Character, Development,” pp. 485-491, and “Modernism,” pp. 733-738,” and “Virginia Woolf, Modern Fiction, pp. 739-744

SENIOR SEMINAR: THE LITERATURE OF VICTORIAN RELIGION

Professor: Dr. Jeffrey Franklin. Phone: 303-556-4026 (home: 720-570-2923, 9am-9pm only).

E-mail: Jeff.Franklin@cudenver.edu.

Class: Time: Mon & Wed 2:30-3:45pm. Location: PL M202.

Office: Times: Mon 1:00-2:00; Tues 2:30-3:30; Wed 1:00-2:00; and Thur 2:30-3:00. Please feel free to show up during these hours, or phone or e-mail to ask a question. If you truly cannot make any of these times, see me about setting up an appointment. Location: 1051 9th Street Park, #101.

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TEXTS

Required Texts:

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (Oxford, 0-19-283965-9)

Marie Corelli, A Romance of Two Worlds

George Eliot, Scenes of Clerical Life (Oxford, 0-19-283780-X)

George Eliot, Adam Bede (Oxford, 0-19-283495-9)

Edmund Gosse, Father and Son (Oxford, 0-19-284066-5)

Rudyard Kipling, Kim (Barnes & Noble, 1-59-308192-8)

Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam (Norton, 0-39-397926-1)

Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers (Oxford, 0-19-283432-0)

In addition, there is a Course Packet; it is available both online on Blackboard and at the Reserve Desk of our library. Please print your own copy. It contains poetry by Edwin Arnold, Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, Edward FitzGerald, Gerard Manly Hopkins, Christina Rossetti, D. G. Rossetti, and Algernon Swinburne, as well as prose excerpts from works by Thomas Carlyle, Charles Darwin, John Henry Newman, and David Friedrich Strauss.

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COURSE GOALS

The religious debates of our own day are prefigured in the religious upheavals of the 19th century. Religion in the Victorian era was characterized by a series of contradictions and conflicts: the Church of England set against other Protestant denominations; the famous Victorian “Crisis of Faith” coincident with a fervent evangelical revival; the explosion of Darwinian evolutionary theory and the Church responses to it; and strong anti-Catholic sentiment coupled with Catholic Emancipation laws (not to mention a Jewish Prime Minister in an anti-Semitic culture). While this and more was going on within Christianity, the Spiritualism Movement (as in séances) was in full swing, and England was flooded by sacred texts in translation from Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. All of this perturbation is captured in the literature of the period. This course is an exploration of that literature within that historical context. Thus this course is a survey of the literature of the Victorian era, but it is a survey with a focus. That focus is on poetry, fiction, and, to a lesser extent, non-fiction prose written by important authors who took as a primary concern the religious institutions and issues with which this period was obsessed.

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COURSE REQUIREMENTS

A course at this level assumes several things. It assumes very thorough reading of all course materials, reading that is engaged and critical and that prepares you to come to class with questions and insights to share. The pages of your books should show signs of your passage through them in the form of notations and underlinings. Although I periodically will lecture, the dominant genre of our class meetings will be the conversation—between you and me and between you and other members of the class. So, another assumption is that you will come to class not prepared to sit back and listen but rather prepared to jump into the discussion with energy and to argue—in the positive sense—over interpretations. This also assumes that you will be present at nearly all of our gatherings. If you fulfill these assumptions, you are likely to make a good grade in the course, to learn a great deal, and, I wager, to have a good time doing it.

In addition, the course requires four types of assignments:

1) Mini-Essays (40% of final grade): These are to be one-page, typed, single-spaced and to focus on a specific compelling question that you have about the work of literature, a question that is compelling because it does not have an obvious, factual, or yes/no answer and because answering it expands our understanding of the literary work. I will be giving you a hand-out that more fully defines what I mean by “compelling question.” I will grade largely on two factors: how compelling the essay makes its question and how much detailed attention the essay gives to the words of the text in looking for answers to its question. Over the course of 16 weeks, you will write only four mini-essays (though you may choose to write more for extra credit). I assign so few mini-essays because I expect all of you to rewrite most, if not all, of them; after all. The purpose of re-writing is to learn how to be a more skillful reader of literature, to learn how to be a better writer, and to raise your grade. Due dates are shown in the schedule below. Rewrites are due two weeks after you receive back my comments. Please note: I will not accept more than one re-write per week, especially not in the last weeks of class.

2) Weekly Quizzes (25% of final grade): As motivation to encourage timely and thorough reading, I will give a short, objective quiz promptly at the beginning of each Thursday class.

3) Final Essay Thesis/Question and Annotated Bibliography (10% of final grade): This will be due the second-to-the-last week of classes. It is to be a statement of the thesis or compelling question for the final essay followed by an annotated bibliography of 5-10 outside sources. It should be between five and ten typed pages. These are your most important notes in preparation for writing the essay. I will help you in this process; we will talk about it in class and, I hope, in my office. Note: Papers may not use more than one or two sources that appear only on the web (as opposed to full-text sources from printed journals that appear on the web complete with page numbers—those are fine). They are always less authoritative than articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals or books, and the use of them undercuts the credibility of your essay.

5) Final Research Essay (25% of final grade): This is to be a substantial, research essay focused on one (or more) of the primary texts read for the course. I recommend that you start by selecting the work that interests you most, then narrowing to a specific question or argument about that work, then looking for outside sources relevant not only to that work but to that specific aspect of interest. I can help you focus the topic and locate sources. Then you need to gather your outside sources, read them thoroughly, take detailed notes, especially selecting passages from the sources that you might want to refute or use to support a claim of yours. Again, I can give you guidance in how to do this. I encourage you to make multiple office visits in the process of preparing this essay; I am glad to look at early drafts. The essay should end up at around 12-15 pages, but I’m less concerned with page-count than with substance.

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GRADING

Mini-Essays (4, plus rewrites): 40%

Weekly Quizzes: 25%

Thesis/Question and Annotated Bibliography: 10%

Final Research Essay: 25%

TOTAL: 100%

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ONLY TWO RULES

1. Attendance is critical to how much you learn from this course, and so it is required. I am quite serious about this: I would like to see you at every class meeting. The class energy suffers when you are not there, and I miss you. However, I understand that there are emergencies, illnesses, and important family or religious obligations. So, I will accept an absence with medical documentation, traffic citation, note from a parent or religious officiate, or other documentation of a legitimate alibi. Simply telling me you were sick will not be sufficient. Each undocumented absence will subtract three points from your final grade, which fairly quickly leads to a letter grade dropped. Also, multiple late arrivals or early departures will add up to an absence, though I will ask you nicely several times first and inform you when I take this action.

2. Your work must be your own; otherwise you fail, or worse. Plagiarism consists of copying someone else's work, quoting or paraphrasing others' work without footnoting, or having someone write part or all of your paper for you. It is the most serious academic offense and can Oct your whole academic career. Be especially careful about “borrowing” from the web; professors know how to find those sites too. If you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism, please ask me or consult any standard college handbook.

A request: Out of mutual respect, please turn off all electronic devices upon entering our classroom. Thanks.

SEVEN UN-RULES

1. You can assume that your interpretive point of view is as valid as anyone else's and deserves to be heard. I would like to hear it.

3. You can speak out in class without raising your hand, assuming relevance to the ongoing discussion. I hope you will.

4. You can respond directly to other members of the class without going through the teacher, assuming civility and goodwill.

5. You can challenge the teacher directly if you disagree, assuming civility and goodwill.

6. You can address the teacher as Dr. Franklin or as Jeff or as Herr Professor Teufelsdröckh.

Potentially Useful Contacts (I know you’ve seen these, but here they are again):

* CU-Denver Writing Center (for help with your essays, grammar, etc.): CN 206, 303-556-4845
* Learning Assistance Center (for general tutoring): NC 2006, 303-556-2802
* Student Advocacy Center (for advice from seasoned students on anything): NC 2012, 303-556-2546
* Student Counseling Center (for free, confidential consultation and therapy with professionals): NC 4036, 303-556-4372

Fall 2005 Registration and Academic Deadlines

· CLAS students must always have an accurate mailing and e-mail address: http:/www.cudenver.edu/registrar

· Students are responsible for completing financial arrangements with financial aid, family, scholarships, etc.

· 15 August (5:00 pm) Payment plan deadline for students registering by 22 July 2005. Students who have not applied for financial aid are administratively disenrolled for non-payment.

· 25 August (midnight) Last day to be added to the wait-list for a closed course.

· 29 August – 7 September Students are responsible for verifying an accurate Fall 2005 registration via SMART.

· 1 September (midnight) Last day to add courses via the web SMART system.

· 7 September (5:00 pm) Last day to add 16-week structured courses without a written petition for a late add (this deadline does not apply to independent study, internships, and late-starting modular courses).

· 7 September (5:00 pm) Last day to drop a Fall 2005 course for tuition refund and no transcript notation.

· 7 September (5:00 pm) Last day for undergraduates and graduates to apply for December, 2005 graduation.

· 16 September (5:00 pm) Last day for CLAS students to add a Fall 2005 course. Treated as an absolute deadline.

· 31 October (5:00 pm) Last day to drop a Fall 2005 course without college approval.

· 11 November (5:00 pm) Last day for CLAS students to drop a Fall 2005 course. Treated as an absolute deadline.

· 9 December (5:00 pm) Last day to withdraw (drop all courses) without a written petition.

Consult the Academic Calendar for details of other dates and deadlines: http://www.cudenver.edu/registrar

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ENGL 4999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Schedule

This schedule is subject to day-to-day revision. The date is when the assignment is due.

Week 1: Introduction to the Course / Religion Before and After the Victorian Period / Church vs. Chapel

Aug 22 Intro to the course and to each other. Introduction to the historical context for religion and literature in 19th-century Britain. What do I mean by “literature of religion”?
Aug 24 Read “Amos Barton” in George Eliot’s Scenes of Clerical Life, and, as always, bring your book to class ready with questions to ask. Also, make use of the footnotes in the back of the book (beginning on page 303 in my edition).

For fun as well as educational value, check out the Victorian websites listed under “The Victorian Web,” http://www.victorianweb.org/ or “Useful Victorian Websites,” http://www.gettysburg.edu/~sflynn/teaching/aesthetics/links.html

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Week 2: Church vs. Chapel vs. the Emerging Victorian Humanism, as in Thomas Carlyle’s Natural Supernaturalism. . .

Aug 29 Read the excerpts from Thomas Carlyle’s Sartor Resartus, which are available online on the Blackboard site for this course and in the photocopied packet at the library reserve desk. à Bring a copy to class.
Aug 31 Read Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, at least through chapter 10, making use of any footnotes. Quiz today on Eliot and Carlyle.

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Week 3: . . .and Charlotte Brontë’s Spiritual Love

Sep 5 Labor Day holiday—no class. Keep reading. Note: Sep 7 is the last day to drop a course with full tuition adjustment.

Sep 7 Read Jane Eyre to the end. Quiz on the novel. Note that your first mini-essay is due next week; I invite you to visit my office hours to run questions by me.

Extra credit: Read my essay, “The Merging of Spiritualities: Jane Eyre as Missionary of Love,” Nineteenth-Century Literature 49 (March 1995): 456-482. It is available in full-text online; just search on the first part of the title and “JSTOR.” There will be an extra-credit question on the quiz.

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Week 4: The Catholic Question: John Henry Newman’s Scandalous Conversion to Catholicism and Robert Browning’s Anti-Catholicism
Sep 12 Mini-essay #1 is due today. Read the short excerpts about Newman and from his Apologia Pro Vita Sua, which is available at the Reserve Desk in the Auraria Library but is not available on Blackboard (or online, that I could find). à Bring a copy to class. As with any work from which we are reading an excerpt, I invite you to read the entire work and research it for your final essay.

Sep 14 Read Robert Browning’s poems “The Bishop orders his Tomb. . .” and “Fra Lippo Lippi,” which are available both on Blackboard and in the course packet at the library. à Bring a copy to class. Quiz on this week’s reading.

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Week 5: George Eliot’s “Sympathy”
Sep 19 Read Eliot’s “Janet’s Repentance” in Scenes of Clerical Life. I strongly advise each of you to come and talk to me about your first mini-essay and options for rewriting it.

Sep 21 Read Eliot’s Adam Bede, Book I (to page 174 in my edition). Quiz.

Extra credit: Read the editor’s “Introduction” in Adam Bede.

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Week 6: The “Higher Criticism” of the Bible / Adam Bede, continued
Sep 26 Read at least through Book III of Adam Bede (page 290 in my copy) and bring it to class. Also read the excerpt from George Eliot’s translation of David Friedrich Strauss’s Das Leben Jesu (The Life of Jesus Critically Examined), which is available in the photocopied packet in the library but not on Blackboard. à Bring a copy to class. Note that the second mini-essay is due next class; you may want to chat with me if you’d like guidance, etc.

Sep 28 Read Adam Bede to the end. Quiz.

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Week 7: The Victorian Crisis of Faith in Alfred Tennyson’s In Memoriam, A. H. H. and the Darwinian Revolution
Oct 3 Mini-essay #2 is due today. Begin reading Tennyson’s In Memoriam and bring it to class.

Extra credit: Read some of the appendices in In Memoriam.

Oct 5 Read the excerpts about Charles Darwin and from his On the Origin of Species and The Descent of Man, which is available in the photocopied packet in the library but not on Blackboard. à Bring a copy to class. Also bring In Memoriam to class. Quiz.

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Week 8: Tennyson’s Redemption, Arnold’s Doubt, and Browning’s Theological Beast

Oct 10 Finish Tennyson’s In Memoriam.

Extra credit: Read additional appendices in In Memoriam.

Oct 12 Read Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” and Robert Browning’s “Caliban Upon Setebos,” which should be on Blackboard and in the photocopied packet. à Bring a copy to class. Quiz.

Extra credit: Read the commentary on “Dover Beach” written by Ian Lancashire; it appears in the appendix to the course packet, both on Blackboard and in the photocopied packet.

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Week 9: Anglican Politics according to Anthony Trollope

Oct 17 Read Trollope’s Barchester Towers through chapter XIII (page 124 in my edition). Make use of any footnotes. Note: Your third mini-essay is due next week; I’d be glad to work with you on it.

Extra credit: Read the editor’s “Introduction” to Barchester.

Oct 19 Read Barchester Towers through Volume I (page 282 in my copy). Quiz. Note that your third mini-essay is due next week.

Extra credit: Finish the novel.

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Week 10: The Pre-Raphaelite Movement and the Religious Art of the Rossettis
Oct 24 Mini-essay #3 is due today. Read Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market,” which should be in the photocopied packet and on Blackboard. à Bring a copy to class.

Oct 26 Read Dante Rossetti’s poems “The Blessed Damozel” and “The Burden of Nineveh,” which should be in the photocopied packet and on Blackboard. à Bring a copy to class. Quiz.

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Week 11: Comparative Religion and the Discovery of the Religious Other: Representations of Islam and Buddhism
Oct 31 Read the excerpt from Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam of Naishapur, which should be in the photocopied packet and on Blackboard. à Bring a copy to class.

Nov 2 Read the excerpt from Edwin Arnold’s The Light of Asia, which should be in the photocopied packet and perhaps on Blackboard. à Bring a copy to class. As with all the works from which we are reading excerpts, I invite you to read the entire work for extra credit and, if you choose, for your final essay. Quiz. You may want to begin reading A Romance of Two Worlds for next week.

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Week 12: From the Spiritualism Movement to Marie Corelli’s Electric Christianity

Nov 7 Read Corelli’s A Romance of Two Worlds, about the first half or so.

Nov 9 Finish A Romance of Two Worlds. Quiz. Note that your fourth mini-essay is due next week. Also, it is time to begin thinking seriously about your final research essay; I recommend a visit to my office to discuss topic and research strategy.

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Week 13: From Swinburne’s Blasphemy to Hopkins’s Ecstatic Faith

Nov 14 Mini-essay #4 is due today. Read Algernon Swinburne’s “Hymn to Proserpine,” which is in the photocopied packet and on Blackboard. à Bring a copy to class. It is time to begin preparing seriously for your final research essay; ask me in class and we’ll discuss getting your research underway.
Nov 16 Read Gerald Manly Hopkins’s poems “The Wreck of the Deutschland,” “God’s Grandeur,” “The Windhover,” “As Kingfishers Catch Fire,” “Carrion Comfort,” and “I Wake and Feel. . . ,” which are in the photocopied packet and on Blackboard. à Bring a copy to class. Quiz. Note that you’ll want to be reading Kim over the break; it’s a great read, so enjoy.

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Week 14: FALL BREAK & THANKSGIVING Nov 21-27
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Week 15: The Empire of Religion: Kipling’s Kim / Edmund Gosse’s Religious Autobiography

Nov 28 Read Kipling’s Kim to the end. Note that I will not accept more than one mini-essay rewrite per week.

Extra credit: Read the editor’s “Introduction” to Kim.

Nov 30 Read Gosse’s Father and Son at least through chapter VI (about half of the book). Quiz. Take note that your annotated bibliography for your final essay is due next week.

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Week 16: Looking Back on an Age of Faith & Doubt

Dec 5 Read Father and Son to the end. Today is the last day that I will accept a mini-essay rewrite. I encourage you to come and see me this week with ideas and drafted material for your final essay.

Extra credit: Read the editor’s “Introduction” to Father and Son.

Dec 7 Due today: Your thesis statement or compelling question and annotated bibliography for the final research essay. Come prepared to speak to the class about your research, what you are finding, what is most interesting to you, what you think the argument of your essay will be, etc.

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Week 17: Finals Week
Dec 12 Final Research Essay due.

Dec 17 Semester ends.

POETRY WORKSHOP

ENGL 3020, Summer 2004

Professor: Jeffrey Franklin. Phone: 303-556-4026 (home: 720-570-2923, 9am-9pm). E-mail: Jeff.Franklin@cudenver.edu.

Class: Time: Tuesday & Thursday, 8:00am-12:00pm. Location: WC 139.

Office: Office hour times: Tuesday and Thursday 12:00pm-1:00pm and other times by appointment. Please feel free to show up or to phone or e-mail to make an appointment or ask a question. Location: 1051 9th Street Park, #101.

TEXTS & OTHER RESOURCES

Required Texts:

· Michelle Boisseau and Robert Wallace, Writing Poems, 6th ed. (Pearson/Longman)

· A short photocopied packet available at the Reserve Desk in the Auraria Library

· One poetry collection that won the Pulitzer Prize to be selected by each student

· A good dictionary that includes etymologies (preferably an Oxford or Longman)

Recommended as general resources, not required:

· A good thesaurus (preferably a large, old-fashioned, non-alphabetical Roget’s)

· Annie Finch and Kathrine Varnes, eds., An Exaltation of Forms (Michigan)

· Mark Strand and Eavan Boland, eds., The Making of a Poem (Norton)

· The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Websites to enjoy and use as resources:

Poetry Daily (a good one to make your homepage): http://www.poetrydaily.org

How to read a poem: http://www.geocities.com/benjonsonjournal/howtoreadapoem.html

A glossary of poetry terms: http://www.poeticbyway.com/glossary.html

The Academy of American Poets (a great resource on many poets): http://www.poets.org

The Poetry Society of America: http://www.poetrysociety.org

Poets & Writers (magazine on how to publish, contests, etc.): http://www.pw.org

COURSE GOALS

If you practice the violin every day for seven years, you can perform in Carnegie Hall. The same rules apply to learning any art, including poetry. Let’s say for the sake of argument that four things are required in order to become a good artist (musician, painter, poet, whatever): 1) technical training; 2) practice; 3) openness, imagination, or daring; and 4) aptitude. The first goal of this course, then, is to give you the technical training, the concepts, vocabulary, and skills. A violinist needs to know how a B flat sounds, how to read it in musical notation, and how to play it. A poet needs to know the sounds that words can make in combination (e.g., assonance, feminine rhyme, etc.), how to read the rhythmic pattern in a line of verse (whether accentual or iambic or free verse), and how to write using that repertoire of techniques as he or she chooses. The second goal of this course is to give you the opportunity to practice those skills and techniques. Practice equals time plus discipline plus motivation. I will provide the motivation, as well as direction, by giving you writing assignments every week and a good deal of feedback. The time and discipline are up to you; if things go as planned, you will spend more time writing and rewriting poems than you ever have. The writing assignments and discussion of reading also will help to stimulate your capacity for openness, imagination, and daring. This third goal, then, is to stretch yourself, stretch beyond what you already know and how you already write by attempting styles of writing that may be new to you and taking on subjects that are foreign and maybe even scary. The fourth criterion, aptitude, which the Romantics called “genius,” I cannot teach you. However, you may be able to develop it in yourself, and this course may help there. However, the ultimate goal of this course is not for you to become a great poet (though that would be great) but rather for you to learn some of the technical repertoire available to poets, to practice some of the skills that great poets have relied upon, to begin to develop your own style and voice, and, most importantly, simply to write, write, write. And, oh yes, to have some fun doing it, ‘cause if it ain’t fun, there’s much better money in electrical engineering. If you don’t become a great poet, you still can learn how to be a good poet, to write poems that are accomplished and pleasing to you and to others, and, if you choose, be an electrical engineer as well!

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. Reading: It may be obvious that thorough and timely reading of our textbook is important for how much you learn. Thorough reading of poems is more than just important: the primary way that poets learn how to write poems is by reading deeply the poems of master poets who have preceded them. I am asking you to spend a minimum of three (3) hours per week reading our textbook and reading poems outside our textbook. We will spend a fair bit of time talking about how to read poems and analyzing poems by accomplished poets. Just to provide a little extra motivation, I will give a very short, objective quiz on the reading every class.
2. Workshop: Nearly every class meeting will include a period of workshopping draft poems written by members of the class. I will speak about the ground-rules for the workshop. Basically, we all want to be attentive, constructive, respectful, and compassionate while also being critically incisive and attuned to what the poem is trying to do and what it might do better.
3. Poem Assignments: Every week for five weeks I will ask you to draft a poem in response to an assignment that I will make. So, every week each of you will turn in a newly written draft poem. Every week I will give you feedback on these drafts with suggestions for revision. I also will give each draft poem three grades on the basis of these criteria: a) responsiveness to the assignment (highly objective); b) amount of effort or time put in (somewhat objective); and, c) imaginative energy, emotional engagement, creative zing, or fun quotient (highly subjective). So, it is quite possible for a beginning poet who is not yet writing accomplished poems to still make a good grade; it is equally possible for an already talented poet to slack off and make poor grades. All poems must be typed and labeled with your name and the number of the assignment, as in “Poem Assignment #1,” etc.
4. Revision Assignments: Every week for the last four weeks of the term I will ask you to turn in a revision of the poem that you wrote in the previous week. You will receive feedback on your drafts in three potential ways: i) in-class workshop; ii) my written comments on your draft; and, iii) in-office consultation with me, which I strongly recommend. Even if you believe your first draft to be a finished poem, you are required to revise it (you always can return to your earlier version, of course). Each week, I will give your revision three grades as follows: a) responsiveness to feedback; b) responsiveness to the “Revision Exercises” (see assignment description below); and, c) seriousness of revision or willingness to make substantial revisions. All revisions must be typed and labeled with your name and the number of the poem and the revision, as in “Poem #2, Revision #1.”
5. Pulitzer Poet’s Poetry Profile: Part of your assigned reading for this course is a book of poetry by a poet who has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize between 1980 and 2003. You will choose the poet and buy his or her book within the first two weeks of the course. In addition, you will write a profile of that poet’s poetry that focuses on 1-3 poems that you believe are especially representative of his/her style, voice, and subject matter. The profile should include the following as subheadings: Speaker, characters, and tone; Setting and plot or argument; Diction; Syntax; Figurative language; Sound effects; Line, rhythm, and meter; Stanza, form, and genre; Themes. The profile should be exhaustive and include specific examples drawn from the selected poem(s).

GRADING

Poem Assignments 30%

Revision Exercises 25%

Weekly Quizzes 20%

Pulitzer Poet’s Poetry Profile (PPPP) 15%

Participation—reading discussion and workshop energy 05%

Attendance 05%

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TOTAL: 100%

ONLY TWO RULES

1. Attendance is critical to how much you learn from this course, and so it is required. I am quite serious about this: I would like to see you at every class meeting, and I keep a record. The class energy suffers when you are not there, and I miss you. In order to give you extra incentive for full attendance, I am giving everyone an easy, automatic “A” on 5% of the final grade just for coming to every class. If you miss one class, that “A” becomes a “C” on 5%. If you miss two class meetings, that 5% becomes zero. If you miss more than two classes, there is a serious problem that we need to sit down and talk about. Also, multiple late arrivals or early departures will add up to an absence, though I will ask you nicely several times first and inform you when I take this action.

2. Your work must be your own; otherwise you fail, or worse. Plagiarism consists of copying someone else’s work, quoting or paraphrasing others’ work without footnoting, or having someone write part or all of your work for you. It is the most serious academic offense and can mar your whole academic career. Be especially careful about “borrowing” from the web; professors know how to find those sites too. If you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism, please ask me or consult any standard college handbook.

A request: Out of mutual respect, please turn off all electronic devices upon entering our classroom. Thanks.

SEVEN UN-RULES

1. You can assume that your point of view is as valid as anyone else's and deserves to be heard. I would like to hear it.

2. You can ask questions that you think might sound dumb, and I hope you do, because others in the class always have that same question and are afraid to ask it and will be grateful to you for having the courage to do so. I will be grateful to you.

3. You can speak out in class without raising your hand, assuming relevance to the ongoing discussion. I hope you will.

4. You can respond directly to other members of the class without going through the teacher, assuming civility and goodwill.

5. You can challenge the teacher directly if you disagree, assuming civility and goodwill.

6. You can address the teacher as Jeff, Dr. Franklin, or Po-Biz Wiz.

Potentially Useful Contacts (I know you’ve seen these, but here they are again):

UCD English Department Writing Center (for help with your essays, grammar, etc.):

CN 206, 303-556-4845

Learning Assistance Center (for general tutoring): NC 2006, 303-556-2802

Student Advocacy Center (for advice from seasoned students on anything): NC 2012, 303-556-2546

Student Counseling Center (for free, confidential consultation and therapy with professionals): NC 4036, 303-556-4372

ENGL 3020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Schedule

This schedule is subject to day-to-day revision. The date is when the assignment is due.
Week 1: Getting started: What makes a poem a poem? How do we read a poem?
June 1 Introduction to each other and to the course. Discussion of how to read a poem. If possible, read before class the first chapter in our text book, “Starting Out,” 1-26; bring the book to class. Also, please bring a printed copy of one poem by a published poet that blows the top of your head off, that makes you wish you had written it—bring 12 copies. Finally, I invite each of you to bring a poem you’ve written that you would be willing to share with the class; bring 12 copies.

June 3 Read chapter 2, “Verse,” 29-49. Read chapter 5, “The Sound (and Look) of Sense,” 100-124. Quiz, today and every class day from now on. Poem #1 due for workshopping. Over the weekend, you will need to select your Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and purchase his/her book.

Week 2: The Sounds of Language / Showing versus Telling: Narrative and Dramatic Verse
June 8 Read chapter 6, “Subject Matter,” 127-153. Read chapter 10, “Finding the Poem,” 235-261. Poem #2 due for workshopping. Please bring your Pulitzer poet’s book to class.

June 10 Read chapter 7, “Tale, Teller, and Tone,” 154-184. Revision of Poem #1 due. Please take note: today is the last day to drop a course without forfeiting tuition.

Week 3: Literal versus Figurative Language / Revision / The Nature of the Line
June 15 Read the material on reserve in the library on revision; bring a copy to class. Read chapter 8, “Metaphor,” 185-209. Poem #3 due for workshopping.

June 17 Read chapter 3, “Making the Line (I),” 50-76. Revision of Poem #2 due.

Week 4: Line, continued
June 22 Read chapter 4, “Making the Line (II),” 77-99. Bring to class 12 copies of one poem by your Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. Poem #4 due for workshopping.

June 24 Revision of Poem #3 due. Pulitzer Poet’s Poetry Profile due.

Week 5: Imitation of One’s Master Poet / Revision

June 29 Read chapter 11, “Devising and Revising,” 262-289. Poem #5 due for workshopping.

July 1 Revision of Poem #4 due. Revision of Poem #5 due. Last class.

POEMS ASSIGNMENTS

Poem #1: Step 1: Make a list of at least twenty intense physical experiences that you have actually had, including highly pleasurable and highly painful ones, including relatively mundane events—such as the feel of torquing a bolt properly, or getting your hair cut—to major events, such as giving birth or being in a car accident. Write very quickly. If stuck, think of the last time you went to bed physically exhausted or emotionally drained. Step 2: From this list, select one item that is especially vivid; this will be your subject. Step 3: Without writing, let your mind drift back to the time when the physical intensity of the experience was over and you could look back at it. Take as long as you need to fully re-experience that moment, including all that you saw, heard, felt, and thought. When you feel ready, jot down what you have recalled. Be very specific and very concrete in describing the place and the physical sensations. Include as many specific details as possible. Step 4: Working from these notes and details, draft a poem about that recalled event, or that shows what went through you mind as you looked back at your intense experience. Pay special attention to thoughts and perceptions that surprised you and to the way your mind moved from one scene, idea, or feeling to another.*

Poem #2: Choice A: Write a poem that plays explicitly with the sound of language without having a set rhyme scheme. Take as your model either Sharon Bryan’s “Sweater Weather: A Love Song to Language” (in our book, p. 3), Robert Francis’s “Silent Poem,” Wallace Steven’s “Bantams in Pine-Woods,” or Lewis Carroll’s “The Jabberwocky.” Choice B: Write a draft of your choice of a pantoum, a sestina, or a villanelle; each of these forms relies on the repetition of specific words or whole lines. See the definitions of these forms in the glossary beginning on 315. For examples of the pantoum, see the poems by Hirsch and Brown on pages 257-8. For examples of the sestina, see Heffernan’s “Famous Last Words” (119). For examples of the villanelle, see Joseph’s “The Payoff” (75). Choice C: Draft a poem either in terza rima or as a ghazal, both of which are open-ended rhyming forms different from traditional quatrains or couplets. For terza rima, see the definition on 319 and, as examples, Brock’s “Move” on 73 or Peacock’s “Putting a Burden Down” on 194. For the ghazal, see the definition on 317 and, as examples, Clark’s “Riverside Ghazal (309) or Kizer’s “Shalimar Garden” (203). Suggestion for topic: write a blessing, a curse, or a magic spell. Additional topic suggestions: #1 or #2 on page 142, or #5 on 144.

Poem #3: Write a dramatic monologue, a poem spoken from the point of someone other than yourself. In many ways it is easiest to do this by adopting the voice of someone far removed historically, culturally, or otherwise (for instance, the point of view of an animal). Check out assignments #1-#3 on 171-172; you may take one of them on, if you like. The goal is to speak so much from that other person/persona’s point-of-view that you don’t have to think up what they would say; they simply say what they would say. Part of the trick is to really be where they are, in their time and place and situation, and see things from there. The poems in Chapter 7 by Nelson, Gluck, Browning, Wright, Frost, and Williams can all serve as helpful examples. One strategy is to write a poem in which the particular speaker refers to him or herself as “I” and addresses a particular “you”—a sort of letter poem.[*] Another strategy is the “black sheep” poem, a poem written in the voice of someone who has been cast out from the family, town, or group—the drunkard, the thief, the adulterer, the traitor, the pariah.*

Poem #4: Write a poem in blank verse, unrhymed iambic pentameter. Write at least 30 lines. One common strategy in this form is to write a narrative poem, a poem that tells a story; in that case, focus the narrative at a moment of crisis or change, decision or epiphany. Another strategy is to write a poem in which the speaker or character undertakes a journey to an unknown destination, beginning the poem with a predicament, such as being lost, being in search of something vital, or being propelled into a quest against one’s will. (If this assignment is too challenging for you, start by simply trying to write lines that have five accents or stresses per line without many intervening unaccented syllables—in other words, five-beat accentual poetry.)

Poem #5: Write an imitation of a poem(s) by your Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, using the profile that you wrote of that poet’s poetry as a guide. You many want to pick a specific poem and write your own “assignment” from that template, as it were. Topic suggestions: Write a poem inspired by a supermarket tabloid headline; or, write a poem inspired by a painting (make a trip to the Denver Art Museum), perhaps adopting the point-of-view of someone portrayed in the painting; or, write a poem about a family member meeting a famous person.[†]

REVISION EXERCISES

Step 1 (to be completed for each revised poem):

i) On your original draft, circle every cliché or overly familiar or “poetic” word or phrase. Then, in rewriting, replace each with a more unique, specific, and interesting word or with a figure of speech (an image, metaphor, simile, etc.).

ii) Circle every abstract word (“love,” “death,” “grief,” “joy,” “goodness,” etc.). Then replace each one with a specific, concrete particular of place or event, or with a figure of speech.

iii) Underline the passages where the speaker of the poem explains something to the reader rather than showing that place or that action or that feeling/thought. Then replace most explaining language with either description of place, actions (plot), or figures of speech. Explaining language is often signaled by the use of “to be” verbs and “I feel” statements, the use of a very prosey and wordy style, or the use of many unaccented syllables in a row.

iv) Give the poem a quite specific and concrete place, whether real or imagined. Visualize the setting for the poem; go into that place and look around. What do you hear, see, smell? See if you can allow one or two specific, concrete details of place to come into the poem.

v) Assess every single line-break and see if you can explain to yourself why each breaks where it does. Pick out the two lines that seem “right” for this poem in terms of the length, rhythm, and type of ending (end-stopped or enjambed). Consider patterning the other lines on those two, working toward a uniform line for the poem, or consider a consistent pattern of lines by stanza.

vi) Most importantly, ask yourself where this poem wants to go that it has not yet gone, into an entirely different subject matter, place/time, or emotional register. Look for a window and go through it. Look for a “dense” moment in the poem that you can go into and expand. Listen to the poem’s desires rather than dictating to it what you want it to say. Try to allow the poem to led you someplace you had not predicted when you started.

Step 2:

In addition to performing Step 1, choose at least one, and preferably more than one, of the following techniques to help you revise, or to allow the poem to become. Please label your revisions something like this: “[your name], Poem #3, Revision #2, Additional revision techniques c) and h).”

a) Write more. Especially if your first draft is 20-30 lines, write at least twice that much more; then you will have more to work from and on. Allow the poem to go someplace new and unexpected.

b) Identify the strongest line or group of lines in the poem; set everything else aside and start writing freshly from those lines. This is a very good exercise, even if you then go back to the version you had originally.

c) Decide which half of the poem to keep and cut the other half, either the 1st half or the 2nd half. Write anew from (or toward) the half you keep.

d) Take one phrase from the poem and repeat it three or more times, either at certain key moments or regularly as a refrain.

e) Look up in a thesaurus 6-10 words currently in the poem and replace some of those words with synonyms that are more specific, more resonant, or less expected (though be careful not to entirely violate the tone). Make lists of synonyms to choose from.

f) Change the verb tenses throughout, from past tense to present tense, for instance.

g) Change the person, from first-person to second-person or third-person to first-person (in this regard, see #6 on page 173).

h) Change the poem entirely from free verse to a set metrical pattern, or from metered verse to free verse. One standard strategy is to take a poem that is already written with 4-5 accented beats per line and transform it into iambic pentameter.

i) If the original version is 12-18 lines, rewrite it as a sonnet.

j) Change the poem from rhyming to non-rhyming, or from non-rhyming to rhyming. If going toward rhyme, decide on the rhyme scheme by looking first for rhymes or near rhymes that are already there in the non-rhymed version. Try a rhyming dictionary.

k) Change the poem from long-lined to short-lined, or from short-lined to long-lined. Change to either very long or very short lines.

l) Rewrite the poem as one long, correctly punctuated sentence. Use multiple types of clauses and punctuation.

m) Only if the poem is already close to finished, cut two or three words from every single line, concentrating on cutting the runs of unaccented syllables. Reshape the lines accordingly, working for greater density. Allow the cutting of words to change the sentence structure and even the meaning. Do not use this technique prematurely.

n) Entirely reshape the poem, the stanzas and the lines, as exemplified by Marianne Moore’s revisions of “The Fish” on pp. 270-273. In other words, decide on a formula for an entirely new shape on the page or stanzaic form.

o) Take the last 5-10 lines of the poem and remove them. Now, write three entirely different new endings. Show all three.

* Source: Robin Behn & Chase Twitchell, The Practice of Poetry

[†] Source: Robin Behn & Chase Twitchell, The Practice of