Course Syllabus/Policy Statement

LIT 3314 - 001 Studies in Poetry
 Class Number: 3446

Spring 2010 MW 10:30-11:45, CBW 1.101

Professor Contact Information

Dr. Susan Briante Phone: x-6781
E-mail: sbriante@utdallas.edu Office: JO 5.112
Office hours: W 1-3

Course Pre-requisites, Co-requisites, and/or Other Restrictions

HUMA 1301, LIT 2331, LIT 2332, or LIT 2341.

Course Description

Studies in Poetry

As an introductory study of poetry this course is designed to teach students how to read, analyze, write
about and—most importantly—enjoy poetry. From Sappho to Frank O’Hara, we’ll look at poems that are
hundreds of years old as well as contemporary works, though the course will not be conducted as a
chronological history of poetry. We’ll study the important tools of the poet (rhyme, rhythm, meter, music,
etc), learn about important forms and traditions as well as consider the varied vocations of the poet. Our
aims are to read widely and deeply in poetry, develop a vocabulary and a range of strategies for
discussing poems, and think about the cultural work that poetry can do.

Student Learning Objectives/Outcomes

To identify the major elements of poetry: rhyme, rhythm, meter, diction, line breaks, stanza
breaks, syntax, etc.
To understand the role of literary theory, literary history, and analysis in its relationship to
poetry.
To describe and apply basic methodologies of interpreting poetry.
To understand and utilize the conventions of literary criticism and academic writing (including
proper methods for citation, the use of MLA style, etc).

Required Textbooks and Materials

The Norton Anthology of Poetry 5th shorter edition ed.
Koch, Kenneth Making Your Own Days

Additional Requirements
 Access to a computer and a printer
 A current UTD e-mail account
 Folders for class handouts, daily pages, and final portfolios.

Assignments & Academic Calendar

Your readings will come from the anthology, Making Your Own Days, indicated on your syllabus as
“Koch,” or from the Norton Anthology of Poetry (Shorter Fifth Edition) indicated as “Norton.” Additional
readings may be posted on the Electronic Reserves page or handed out in class. When you are assigned a
poem you should read all of the notes associated with the poem as well as the poet’s biographical
information included in the Norton appendix. You should anticipate additional writing or reading
assignments that do not appear on this syllabus.
Three times during the semester, you will be expected to attend an evening poetry reading on
campus. Attendance is mandatory unless there is a class, childcare, or employment conflict that
has been discussed with me in advance.

Jan 11-13
Discuss: Expectations, course goals, assignments, and policies
What is poetry? What is contemporary poetry?
In-class reading: Lorraine Niedecker’s “Paean to Place”.
Readings: For Wednesday: Part I, “A Brief Preface,” Chapter 1 “Two Languages” (Koch) and “How to
Read a Poem” (class).

Jan 18 NO CLASS MLK HOLIDAY

Jan 20
Making Music: Repetition and Rhyme
Readings: Chapter 2 “Music” (13-49) in Koch. Dickinson, “A Bird Came Down” (724); Hopkins, “God’s
Grandeur” and “Pied Beauty” (755) in Norton. Wright, “January II;” Mullen, “Blah Blah” and
“Coo/Slur;” and O’Hara “Sharing a Coke with You” (class).

Jan 25-27
Making Music: Repetition and Line
Readings: Herrick, “The Pillar of Fame” (230); Herbert , “Altar” (235); Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a
Snowy Evening” (803); and Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow” (829) in Norton. Cummings, “Spring is
…” (271); Apollinaire, “Heart, Crown, Mirror” (234); and Ashbery, “Europe” (302) in Koch. Stefans,
“Dream Life of Letters” on Web.

Jan 29 Optional Reading: Poet Mary Oliver at the First Presbyterian Church sponsored by the
DMA (https://www.tickets.dallasmuseumofart.org/public/default.asp)

Feb 1-3
Patterns of Rhyme
Sonnets and Other Traditional Forms
Readings: Shakespeare “Sonnets 55, 73, 130” (172); Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz” (955); Wilbur, “Junk”
(1023); in Norton. Chapter 3 in “The Inclinations of the Poetry Language” and Petrarch, “Sonnet” (158)
in Koch. Millay, “I will put chaos…” in class.

Feb 8-10
Sonnets and Other Traditional Forms
Craft Analysis Assignment
Readings: Rilke, “Archaic Torso of Apollo” (220) (Koch); Thomas, “Do Not Go Gentle…” (991);
Bishop, “Sestina” and “One Art” (960) in Norton. Berrigan, “Sonnets” (class).

Feb 15-17
Free or Open Verse
Selections from Alan Michael Parker
Readings: Whitman, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (684) in Norton. Stevens, “13 Ways of Looking at a
Blackbird” (229) in Koch. Part II Chapter 2 “Writing Poetry” and Chapter 3 “Reading Poetry” in Koch.
Selections from Alan Michael Parker (class).

Feb 16 Poet Alan Michael Parker @ UTD, 7:30 location TBA

Attendance will be expected unless there is a class, childcare or employment conflict.
Feb 22-24
Free or Open Verse
Readings: Li Bai, “The City of Choan” (148); Ashbery, “Le Livre est sur la table” (300) and O’Hara
“Meditations in an Emergency” (296) in Koch. Baudelaire, “Selections from Paris Spleen” and Hass, “A
Story About the Body” (class). Carroll “Jabberwocky” (736) in Norton.

Feb 24 CRAFT ANALYSIS DUE

March 1 Mid-Term Review

March 3 Mid-Term Exam
Readings: Review of terms in class.

March 4 Poets and Technology Panel, 4:30 at UTD, location TBA

March 5 MID TERM GRADES AVAILABLE

March 8 -10
Mid-Term Review
Poet Rodrigo Toscano

March 10 Poet Rodrigo Toscano @ UTD, 7:30 in Jonsson Performance Hall

Attendance will be expected unless there is a class, childcare or employment conflict.

March 15-17 SPRING BREAK

March 22-24
Poem as Collaboration
Collaboration/Imitation Assignment
Readings: Shakespeare, “Sonnet 130” (Norton), and Mullen, “Dim Lady” and “Variations on a Theme
Park” (class); Whitman, "I Hear America Singing" and excerpts from “Song of Myself” Hughes, "Let
America Be America Again" and “I, too, Sing America,” Cummings, "next to of course god america i"
(Norton 894), Creeley, "America," Snyder, "I Went into the Maverick Bar" (Koch 304) and Ginsberg “A
Supermarket in California” (Koch 293). Poems will be distributed in class.

March 29-31
Poets to Poets: Movements, Manifestos and Poetic Statements (1)
Readings: Wordsworth, “Preface to The Lyric Ballads” and Keats, excerpts from letters (ER).
Wordsworth, “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” Coleridge, “Frost at Midnight” and
Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale,” in Norton.

April 1 Optional Reading: Poet Rachel Levitsky at the Dallas Women’s Museum

April 5
Poets to Poets: Movements, Manifestos and Poetic Statements (2)
Final Project Assignment
Readings: Pound, “A Retrospect, Including A Few Don'ts” and Eliot, “Tradition and the Individual
Talent” on ER and Eliot “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and Pound “In a Station of the Metro”
and “The River Merchant’s Wife” in Norton.
COLLABORATION/IMITATION DUE

APRIL 7 CLASS CANCELLED TO MAKE UP FOR EVENING READINGS

April 12-14
Poets to Poets: Movements, Manifestos and Poetic Statements (3)
Readings: Breton “Surrealist Manifesto” and “Free Union.” Selections from Cesaire, Vallejo, Young and
Harvey in class.

April 19-21
Poet as Witness Historian
Screening: Polis is This
Readings: Readings: Lowell “For the Union Dead” (1007) in Norton; Neruda “The Heights of Machu
Picchu” (ER) and Olson, selections from The Maximus Poems (class) (ER).

April 26-28: Final Project Work Week

May 3: Final Project Due

Assignments and Grading Policy

 Weekly writing assignments; in-class individual, small group and large group work;
feedback on classmates’ work (10%). Your class participation grade will be determined not
only by what you say in class, but by what you bring to class. You will be expected to read
assigned texts in their entirety on the first day we begin discussion of the text. I will often
assign short, informal writing assignments as preparation for class discussions. If they are not
completed, I reserve the right to collect and grade them as well to give alternate graded
assignments. Many of these short writing assignments will form the basis for longer
assignments.

 Mid Term Exam (20%).

 Craft Analysis (20%). You will need to write a 3- to 4-page craft analysis of a single poem,
chosen from a list I will provide. This assignment focuses on reading the poem to identify
and understand its formal characteristics and how they produce meaning.

 Collaboration/Imitation (20%). This assignment requires that you write a poem in imitation
of or in conversation with a poet whose work we have studied. In addition to your poem, you
will be asked to write a 2- to 3-page paper explaining the choices that you’ve made in
responding to the original work.

 Final Paper (30%). Your final paper (8 to 10 pages) will look at how the works we’ve read
speak to one another, to history, or to the culture at large. We will discuss possible topics.
You are expected to make use of scholarly sources in your essay, and you'll want to build in
plenty of lead-time for research.

Your final semester grade will be calculated according to the above percentages. Do not discard any
drafts, notes, papers or research materials you produce during the semester until you receive a final grade

COURSE POLICIES

Attendance
You are expected to be punctual, to attend class daily, and to participate in all in-class editing,
revising, and discussion sessions. At the start of each class, I will pass around an attendance
sheet. Excessive absenteeism (6 absences) will result in failure of the course. There is no
 difference between excused or unexcused absences. Save any absences to use when you are
sick or when you have an emergency. If you find that an unavoidable problem prevents you from
attending class, please discuss the problem with me before you have reached your absence limit.

Late Assignments and Drafts

Papers and other out-of-class assignments will be turned in at the time they are due. If you cannot
attend class on the date an assignment is due, arrange to have a classmate or friend drop it off
during scheduled class time. There is no makeup of in-class work. I do not accept late drafts or
late papers. I do not accept assignments via e-mail.

Electronic Equipment
No electronic equipment of any kind is to be used during class, unless required by a
documented disability. This means: no laptops, pagers, cell phones, etc. Cell phones, pages, etc.
must be turned off and stowed before class begins. If your cell phone or pager rings during class
you will be asked to leave, and you will be marked absent.

Student Conduct & Discipline

The University of Texas System and The University of Texas at Dallas have rules and regulations
for the orderly and efficient conduct of their business. It is the responsibility of each student and
each student organization to be knowledgeable about the rules and regulations that govern student
conduct and activities. General information on student conduct and discipline is contained in the
UTD publication, A to Z Guide, which is provided to all registered students each academic year.

The University of Texas at Dallas administers student discipline within the procedures of
recognized and established due process. Procedures are defined and described in the Rules and
Regulations, Board of Regents, The University of Texas System, Part 1, Chapter VI, Section 3,
and in Title V, Rules on Student Services and Activities of the university’s Handbook of
Operating Procedures. Copies of these rules and regulations are available to students in the
Office of the Dean of Students, where staff members are available to assist students in
interpreting the rules and regulations (SU 1.602, 972/883-6391).

A student at the university neither loses the rights nor escapes the responsibilities of citizenship.
He or she is expected to obey federal, state, and local laws as well as the Regents’ Rules,
university regulations, and administrative rules. Students are subject to discipline for violating
the standards of conduct whether such conduct takes place on or off campus, or whether civil or
criminal penalties are also imposed for such conduct.

Academic Integrity
The faculty expects from its students a high level of responsibility and academic honesty.
Because the value of an academic degree depends upon the absolute integrity of the work done by
the student for that degree, it is imperative that a student demonstrate a high standard of
individual honor in his or her scholastic work.

Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, statements, acts or omissions related to
applications for enrollment or the award of a degree, and/or the submission as one’s own work or
material that is not one’s own. As a general rule, scholastic dishonesty involves one of the
following acts: cheating, plagiarism, collusion and/or falsifying academic records. Students
suspected of academic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary proceedings.

Plagiarism, especially from the web, from portions of papers for other classes, and from any other
source is unacceptable and will be dealt with under the university’s policy on plagiarism (see
general catalog for details). This course will use the resources of turnitin.com, which searches the
 web for possible plagiarism and is over 90% effective.

Email Use
The University of Texas at Dallas recognizes the value and efficiency of communication between
faculty/staff and students through electronic mail. At the same time, email raises some issues
concerning security and the identity of each individual in an email exchange. The university
encourages all official student email correspondence be sent only to a student’s U.T. Dallas email
address and that faculty and staff consider email from students official only if it originates from a
UTD student account. This allows the university to maintain a high degree of confidence in the
identity of all individual corresponding and the security of the transmitted information. UTD
furnishes each student with a free email account that is to be used in all communication with
university personnel. The Department of Information Resources at U.T. Dallas provides a method
for students to have their U.T. Dallas mail forwarded to other accounts.

Withdrawal from Class

The administration of this institution has set deadlines for withdrawal of any college-level
courses. These dates and times are published in that semester's course catalog. Administration
procedures must be followed. It is the student's responsibility to handle withdrawal requirements
from any class. In other words, I cannot drop or withdraw any student. You must do the proper
paperwork to ensure that you will not receive a final grade of "F" in a course if you choose not to
attend the class once you are enrolled.

Student Grievance Procedures

Procedures for student grievances are found in Title V, Rules on Student Services and Activities,
of the university’s Handbook of Operating Procedures.

In attempting to resolve any student grievance regarding grades, evaluations, or other fulfillments
of academic responsibility, it is the obligation of the student first to make a serious effort to
resolve the matter with the instructor, supervisor, administrator, or committee with whom the
grievance originates (hereafter called “the respondent”). Individual faculty members retain
primary responsibility for assigning grades and evaluations. If the matter cannot be resolved at
that level, the grievance must be submitted in writing to the respondent with a copy of the
respondent’s School Dean. If the matter is not resolved by the written response provided by the
respondent, the student may submit a written appeal to the School Dean. If the grievance is not
resolved by the School Dean’s decision, the student may make a written appeal to the Dean of
Graduate or Undergraduate Education, and the deal will appoint and convene an Academic
Appeals Panel. The decision of the Academic Appeals Panel is final. The results of the academic
appeals process will be distributed to all involved parties.

Copies of these rules and regulations are available to students in the Office of the Dean of
Students, where staff members are available to assist students in interpreting the rules and
regulations.

Incomplete Grade Policy

As per university policy, incomplete grades will be granted only for work unavoidably missed at
the semester’s end and only if 70% of the course work has been completed. An incomplete grade
must be resolved within eight (8) weeks from the first day of the subsequent long semester. If the
required work to complete the course and to remove the incomplete grade is not submitted by the
specified deadline, the incomplete grade is changed automatically to a grade of F.

Disability Services
The goal of Disability Services is to provide students with disabilities educational opportunities
 equal to those of their non-disabled peers. Disability Services is located in room 1.610 in the
Student Union. Office hours are Monday and Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Tuesday and
Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The contact information for the Office of Disability Services is:

The University of Texas at Dallas, SU 22
PO Box 830688
Richardson, Texas 75083-0688
(972) 883-2098 (voice or TTY)

Essentially, the law requires that colleges and universities make those reasonable adjustments
necessary to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability. For example, it may be necessary
to remove classroom prohibitions against tape recorders or animals (in the case of dog guides) for
students who are blind. Occasionally an assignment requirement may be substituted (for
example, a research paper versus an oral presentation for a student who is hearing impaired).
Classes enrolled students with mobility impairments may have to be rescheduled in accessible
facilities. The college or university may need to provide special services such as registration,
note-taking, or mobility assistance.

It is the student’s responsibility to notify his or her professors of the need for such an
accommodation. Disability Services provides students with letters to present to faculty members
to verify that the student has a disability and needs accommodations. Individuals requiring
special accommodation should contact the professor after class or during office hours.

Religious Holy Days

The University of Texas at Dallas will excuse a student from class or other required activities for
the travel to and observance of a religious holy day for a religion whose places of worship are
exempt from property tax under Section 11.20, Tax Code, Texas Code Annotated.
The student is encouraged to notify the instructor or activity sponsor as soon as possible
regarding the absence, preferably in advance of the assignment. The student, so excused, will be
allowed to take the exam or complete the assignment within a reasonable time after the absence: a
period equal to the length of the absence, up to a maximum of one week. A student who notifies
the instructor and completes any missed exam or assignment may not be penalized for the
absence. A student who fails to complete the exam or assignment within the prescribed period
may receive a failing grade for that exam or assignment.
If a student or an instructor disagrees about the nature of the absence [i.e., for the purpose of
observing a religious holy day] or if there is similar disagreement about whether the student has
been given a reasonable time to complete any missed assignments or examinations, either the
student or the instructor may request a ruling from the chief executive officer of the institution, or
his or her designee. The chief executive officer or designee must take into account the legislative
intent of TEC 51.911(b), and the student and instructor will abide by the decision of the chief
executive officer or designee.

Off-Campus Instruction and Course Activities

Off-campus, out-of-state, and foreign instruction and activities are subject to state law and
University policies and procedures regarding travel and risk-related activities. Information
regarding these rules and regulations may be found at the website address given below.
Additional information is available from the office of the school dean.
(http://www.utdallas.edu/Business Affairs/Travel_Risk_Activities.htm)

These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the Professor.