Instr:                 Susan Firer
Office:              CRT 576,     229-6993
e-mail:              sfirer@uwm.edu
Office hours:     by appointment.

Course Information:                    MWF 12:30   CRT 466

Course Description

"I've come to believe that one learns to write only by writing," says Richard Hugo. I also believe that. I also believe one learns strategies of writing from reading. Consequently, in the 416 Poetry Workshop the concentration will be twofold: we will read, listen, and respond/critique students' writings, and we will also read and discuss the work of established writers found in the assigned class anthology and in literary periodicals. When Raymond Carver took Creative Writing 101 under John Gardner, Gardner told him that literary periodicals were "where most of the best fiction in the country and just about all of the poetry was appearing." We will study the literary periodicals, focusing on poetry.

English Department policies on Academic Dishonesty and Grievances are posted on a bulletin board in the west corridor of Curtin 4 (near the departmental office) and on the English Department Home page (http://www.edu/Dept/English).

The grade in this course will be a contract grade.  In order to earn a "B", students will be responsible for:

1) Regular attendance and participation (in a workshop, most of the learning goes on in the classroom, hence attendance is required and figured in, as part of the grade).
2) In a reading journal, compiling and responding to ten contemporary poems by authors other than those discussed in class. Take poems from diverse literary periodicals.
3) An original poetry manuscript of ten pages.
4) An oral report on a "little magazine.''
5) A writer's notebook.

An 'A,' grade will be given if work in any of the two listed areas is superior or sufficiently beyond the mentioned requirements.

Texts:
1) Literary review/"little magazine" (your choice)
2) THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY (year your choice)

Because so much of the class depends on responses to students' writings, it is impossible to chart an exact day-to-day syllabus.