If anyone comes to the gates of poetry and expects to become an adequate poet by acquiring expert knowledge without the Muses’ madness, he will fail, and his self-controlled verses will be eclipsed by the poetry of men who have been driven out of their minds—Plato.

Required Texts:
Poetic Meter and Poetic Form—Paul Fussell. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms—Mark Strand and Evan Boland, eds. The New Princeton Encylopedia of Poetry and Poetics—eds. Alex Preminger and T.V.F. Brogan.

Course Description:
This is a writing immersion course designed to give you an understanding of the formal aspects of reading and writing poetry. Our engagement with poetic forms and learning scansion. The rules of poetic forms provide a structure for the inspiration of the poet. Is it any wonder that all epics begin with the poet invoking the muse so that s/he would not only be able to tell the whole story well but to tell it in a way that would change the world, crush the heart of the audience/reader, or be merely enjoyable. Poetic forms, and this includes free verse, exist for this kind of aesthetic transmission. While our emphasis is on form in this class, we must never lose sight of content. That mysterious choice of what to write about has universal ramifications when it comes time to write. Do we write about Truth, a drunk parent, or a trip to Florida? While this is not a literature course we will be reading a lot of poetry, and I expect you to be able to react substantially to the treatment of form and content in our discussions of the poems. In the latter part of the course form becomes more subjective as you will not be following specific metrical formulas when you compose your Stanza, Elegy, Pastoral or Ode. However, you may choose to write one of these thematic poems in formal verse. For example, you may write an elegy in Blank Verse.

Course Goals:
It is my hope that you will learn something of the history of poetry and gain an appreciation of its composition. If this happens, you will become a better writer and a better reader. We will learn twelve different poetic forms from the Anthology: The Villanelle, The Sestina, The Pantoum, The Sonnet, The Ballad, Blank Verse, The Heroic Couplet, The Stanza, The Elegy, The Pastoral, The Ode. It is also my goal to have you look up every single term that we cover in this course. The Norton does a decent job introducing terms, but Preminger gives much more thorough definitions.

Course Requirements:
You will write one formal poem per week. We will perform scansion each week. You will be responsible for presenting a term from the Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics each week—these will be assigned. You will be expected to attend each class and to participate in class on a daily basis. You have three excused absences before your final grade drops by a letter. I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences. On Fridays, we will read, scan, and enjoy a poetic achievement of the week. I will choose a poem or two from the previous week. Everyone will be selected at least once during the course of the term. You will also be responsible for writing a 5 page essay on the theory of poetic composition. This essay will be 10% of your grade. The other 90% is writing and participation.

Tentative Schedule of Events

Week 1
1/7— Introduction. Syllabus. The Villanelle. Begin to write. Scansion exercise. NA 5-8.
1/9— Fussell Chs. 1&2. NA 9-13.
1/11—Villanelle Due. NA 14-19.
Week 2
1/14—The Sestina. Fussell Ch. 3. NA 21-25
1/16—NA—Sidney, 29-33.
1/18—Sestina Due. 34-41. Villanelle workshop.
Week 3
1/21—MLK day. No Classes
1/23— The Pantoum. Fussell Ch. 6. NA 43-53.
1/25—The Sonnet, NA 55-59. Pantoum Due. Sestina Ws.
Week 4
1/28—Fussell Chapter 4. NA 60-64
1/30—NA 65-68.
2/1—NA 69-71. Sonnet Due. Pantoum Workshop.
Week 5
2/4—The Ballad, NA 73-78.
2/6—NA 79-90.
2/8—NA 91-99. Sonnet Workshop.
Week 6—
2/11— Blank Verse. NA 101-105
2/13—NA 106(except for 113)-119
2/15—NA 113, 119. Ballad Workshop.
Week 7
2/18—The Heroic Couplet, NA 121-125.
2/20—NA 125(except for 130)-133
2/22—NA 130, 135. Blank Verse Workshop.
Week 8
2/25—The Stanza. Fussell Chs. 8 &9. NA 136-143.
2/27—NA 144-149.
3/1—NA 150-154. The Heroic Couplet Workshop. Be Heroic. Write.
SPRING BREAK
Week 9
3/11—The Elegy. NA 159-184
3/13—NA 185-194.
3/15—NA 196-204. The Stanza Workshop.
Week 10
3/18—The Pastoral. NA 207-217.
3/20—NA 218-228.
3/22—NA 229-238. The Elegy Workshop.
Week 11
3/25—The Ode. NA 240-244
3/27—NA 245-250.
3/29—NA 252-254. The Pastoral Workshop.
Week 12
4/1—Open Forms. NA 259-266. Fussell Chs. 5 & 10.
4/3—NA 268-280.
4/5—NA 281-287.Open Form Due.

Turn in Final Essay. Open Form Party/Workshop.