WRI 516, Spring 2007, W, 6:30-9:15, Kinard 111
Professor Susan Ludvigson, Office 230 Bancroft
Office phone: 323-4565 Home Phone: 328-9207 (Please try e-mail first.)
Office Hours: M-W, 2:15-3:15 and by appt.
E-Mail addresses (please use both whenever you e-mail): sludvigson@rhtc.net; ludvigsons@winthrop.edu
Note: I will read e-mail once a day, in the evenings.
Texts:
The Language They Speak is Things to Eat, ed. Michael McFee
Strongly Spent ed. Rodney Smith
One Night Stand, Dede Wilson
Course goals:
To discover the qualities that distinguish fine contemporary poems and to use excellent published poems as models for writing.
To create poems in contemporary language, using vivid imagery, metaphor, detail, and originality.
To recognize the qualities that make a good poem in order to offer constructive criticism of other students’ work as well as of one’s own.
To write thoughtful, original review essays on contemporary poetry.
To further the English Department’s goal of expanding the possibilities of language.
The English Department’s home page is found at: http://www.winthrop.edu/english. Resources for many of our courses can be found at http://www.winthrop.edu/english/core.htm.
Course Requirements:
At the end of the semester students will submit a portfolio containing all assigned poems. Each poem will be accompanied by its revisions, beginning with the version brought to the workshop on the bottom of the stack, with each successive draft up to the final draft on top. Each set of revisions will be stapled together.
All poems brought to class for critique must be typed and duplicated for all class members, including the professor.
Students will also buy and write essay/reviews on one collection of poems by an individual poet whose work can be found on Poetry Daily or Verse Daily.
Grading will be based on the quality of the final poems, including the quality of successive revisions (70% of the grade); on class participation, especially the quality of criticism offered to other students in the workshop (15%), and on essays (15%).
The plagiarism policy for this class will be the same as that listed in the Student Conduct Code.
Regular attendance is expected. Critical responses to workshop poems by class members are crucial to the success of the course; therefore, more than three absences will result in forfeiture of the 25% class participation grade. The professor will not repeat instructions or assignments for students who are tardy.
A variety of literary magazines will be available in the professor’s office and may be borrowed by students during office hours or after class. Students are encouraged to stop by during office hours to discuss their drafts and other matters related to poems, or to make appointments with the professor.
The class will end the semester with a reading, to which friends and family will be invited. Depending on the number of students in the class, each person will read 2-3 poems. The reading will be included in the “class participation” portion of the grade.
Students will be expected to attend any other poetry readings scheduled during the semester unless excused in advance. Attendance at readings will also be considered part of “class participation.”
Cell phones must be turned off during classes.
Winthrop University is dedicated to providing access to education. If you have a disability and need classroom accommodations, please contact Gena Smith, Coordinator, Services for Students with Disabilities, at 323-3290, as soon as possible. Once you have your Professor Notification Form, please tell me so that I am aware of your accommodations well before the first assignment.