Instr:                  Prof. Marilyn Taylor
Office:                CRT 388,   229-5293
e-mail:                mlt@uwm.edu
Office hours:    by appointment

Course Information:                     TR   2:05 - 3:20    CRT 284
 

Course Description

REQUIRED TEXTS:
The Norton Anthology of Poetry, Shorter 4th Edition
 An Exaltation of Forms – Finch, A. and K. Varnes, eds.
A Prosody Handbook – (available from instructor)

This class will provide poets with a unique opportunity to experiment with a variety of traditional and non-traditional poetic forms and devices, and to master a number of the special effects that they make available to you as part of the process of creating a new poem.  It will be run as a poetry workshop, but one which restricts itself to specific assignments and exercises in form and craft..  Part of our time will be devoted to the definition and illustration of a form or aspect of versification; the rest will be spent workshopping your own responses to these assignments

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Your written assignments— always involving a degree of choice on your part— might range from simple experiments in the iambic pentameter to the complexities of writing a crown of sonnets, for example (see Marilyn Hacker), or a set of sapphic stanzas (see William Meredith) or an extended narrative in blank verse (see James Merrill).   Most of your completed assignments will be discussed in class, in a workshop setting.

Reading assignments will include (1) the work of contemporary poets as well as poets of the past whose verse demonstrates the successful utilization of formal devices; and (2) selected readings on matters of rhythm, meter and sound.  You will also be asked to invent an original form of your own, which, along with a description of its particulars, will be shared with the rest of the class.

At the end of the semester, you will be expected to turn in a manuscript of approximately 8 poems, give or take a couple, that demonstrate your understanding of versification and prosody; plus a term paper, to be arranged with your instructor, on a topic that relates to your own poetry.

GRADES:
Your final grade will be based primarily on how your final manuscript reflects your own specific road-test with some of the poetic elements and techniques we’ll be covering in class. Although talent and “giftedness” are certainly welcome,  these qualities should be accompanied by a generous amount of flexibility, and willingness to try some approaches you may not have attempted before. There will be no exams, final or otherwise.