Poetry Writing, WRI 316, Spring 2007, M-W, BAN 264, 3:30-4:45
Professor Susan Ludvigson, Office 230 Bancroft
Office phone: 323-4565 Home Phone: 328-9207 (Please try e-mail first if possible.)
Office Hours: M-W, 2:00-3:30 and by appt.
E-Mail addresses (please use both whenever you e-mail): sludvigson@rhtc.net; ludvigsons@winthrop.edu
Texts:
The New Young American Poets, ed. Kevin Prufer
A Geography of Poets, ed. Leon Stokesbury
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 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.
Note: The professor will read e-mail once a day, in the evenings.
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. Because these are drafts, it is fine to use the backs of any kind of 8 ½ by 11 inch paper.
For each assignment, students will choose a poem from one of the anthologies to discuss briefly before reading their own poems. Whenever possible, the poems chosen should reflect the assignment.
Grading will be based on the quality of the final poems, including the quality of successive revisions (80% of the grade); on class participation, including particularly the quality of criticism offered to other students in the workshop (20% of the grade).
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 15% 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.