Readings/Assignments for Thursday, March 3, 2004

Don't forget that class will start off at 4:00 in Farber Hall, so that we can hear Ken Waldman, Alaska's Fiddling Poet, read and perform his work!

Please read/print out the following articles, which are available as Full-Text Articles from WilsonSelectPlus in the USD Library Research Databases. To access WilsonSelectPlus, click here to get to the USD Library Research Databases page. Next, click on Arts and Humanities. On the next screen, click on Language and Literature. On the screen after that, click on Arts and Humanities Search. You'll be taken to a screen next that has a drop-down menu for databases to search, at which point you'll want to replace AH Search with WilsonSelectPlus on the drop-down menu. Now you can simply type in article or author titles to pull up the full-text articles from the WilsonSelectPlus database. (Please note that at some point during this process you'll most likely be prompted for your USD User ID and Password).

"Panel: Lowell Off the Page," by Robert Giroux, Charles McKinley, and Robert Dana, The Kenyon Review, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Winter 2000) pp. 255-74.

"Robert Lowell on Native Ground," by Richard Tillinghast, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Vol. 71 (Winter 1995, pp. 86-100.

"Looking Back at Robert Lowell," by Alan Williamson, The American Poetry Review, Vol. 24 (May/June 1995), pp. 35-38.

Please also read the following poems from Robert Lowell's Selected Poems:

"History," p. 159
"Coleridge," p. 174
"Randall Jarrell 1, 2, and 3," pp. 177-178
"For Eugene McCarthy," p. 182
"Reading Myself," p. 183
"Father," p. 195
"Mother and Father, 1 and 2," pp. 195-196
"Mother, 1972," p. 197
"Father in a Dream," p. 197
"To Daddy," p. 198
Part One of For Lizzie and Harriet, pp. 209-211
"Fall Weekend at Milgate," p. 231
"Mermaid," p. 233
"Mermaid Emerging," p. 237
"Late Summer at Milgate," p. 239
"Robert Sheridan Lowell," p. 239
"Christmas," p. 245
"Christmas," p. 246
"Dolphin," p. 246

Next, here is this week's memoir prompt from The Autobiography Box:

Create a word portrait of yourself. Using as much descriptive language as possible, draw a picture of yourself, including physical attributes, but also the things that have given your face character--what you inherited from your parents, what life and time have done to alter it.

Finally, here are the Paper Guidelines and Topics for the final course paper that I went over in class on Thursday:

Please select one of the following topics listed below on which to write your 10-12 page final course paper. The rough draft of your paper will be due on Thursday, April 7, 2005, at which point I will provide you with substantive written feedback on your rough draft. The final, revised version of your paper will be due on Thursday, May 5, 2005, by 5:00 p.m.

Your papers should have a clear central thesis/argument, and a logical structure. You will be required to include analyses of works by a minimum of three of the poets specifically discussed in class this semester, and at least two of the assigned scholarly/critical sources.

You are welcome to include additional poets not specifically discussed in class as part of your discussion, as well as additional scholarly/critical sources, if you so desire. This paper is not ultimately meant to be a research or survey paper, however. I would like you to narrow down and limit your sources enough so that the primary focus of your paper will ultimately consist of readings/analyses of the poems as much as possible.

Please make sure to properly and consistently cite all of your sources. MLA format is standard for the profession, but I will be happy to accept other formats provided that the citations are both accurate and consistent. (Please note that I’m not going to require you to make citations when quoting directly from the actual poems themselves, only when referencing secondary scholarly/critical sources as part of your discussion of these poems.)

1. Please provide a discussion of the term “Confessionalism” with regard to the autobiographical poets discussed this semester. Questions that you might want to address in your discussion might include: Is the term “Confessionalism” an appropriate term for these poets? In what ways is their work “Confessional,” and what are the parameters or implications of the “confession(s)” being made? Are the “confession(s)” revealing or masking? Are there ways in which the term “Confessional” seems inappropriate or problematic with regard to the works of these poets? Your discussion should include analyses of works by at least three of the poets discussed this semester, and should incorporate as part of the discussion at least two of the assigned scholarly sources.

2. Poets such as Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Elizabeth Bishop are also frequently referred to as the “Middle Generation” of poets and indeed, they seem to fall right in the divide between the literary and aesthetic styles of Modernism and Post-Modernism. Using a minimum of three of the poets studied this semester as examples, and at least two of the assigned scholarly sources, please provide a stylistic analysis of the ways in which these poets exemplify both Modernist and Post-Modernist traits within their works.

3. Please provide an analysis of the implications of gender with regard to works written by the autobiographical poets discussed in the course this semester. You may wish to take into consideration issues pertaining to feminist scholarship, Freudian psychoanalysis, and/or the prevailing cultural conditions at the time different poets were working and writing (i.e., 1950’s “containment culture,” etc.). Your analysis should include at least three of the poets studied this semester, and should incorporate at least two of the assigned scholarly sources.

4. Please discuss the emergence and use of the genre of “journal poem” arising in the middle of the 20th century. In your paper, you may wish to address one or more of the following questions: Is this a valid form of poetry? How do different practitioners of the “journal poem” genre make this form unique or different? Is the “journal poem” genre the ultimate “confessional” poem? In what ways and to what degree does the genre of “journal poem” blur the boundaries between poetry and memoir? Your discussion should include analyses of works by at least three of the poets discussed this semester, and should incorporate as part of the discussion at least two of the assigned scholarly sources.

5. In her article, “No Room in the Booth? An Appreciation of Confessional Poetry,” Kathleen Osip argues that post-confessional poets lack the craft and technique, as well as the passion and fire, of the original confessional poets. She suggests that while the original confessional poets “acted out” in their poems, the post-confessionals analyze and “work through” their issues in their poetry, and to detrimental effect. Please respond to Osip’s assertioneither defending or refuting her claimincluding analyses of works by at least three of the poets discussed this semester, and incorporating at least two of the assigned scholarly sources as art of the discussion.

Readings/Assignments for Thursday, February 24, 2005

Please read/print out the following articles, which are available as Full-Text Articles from WilsonSelectPlus in the USD Library Research Databases. To access WilsonSelectPlus, click here to get to the USD Library Research Databases page. Next, click on Arts and Humanities. On the next screen, click on Language and Literature. On the screen after that, click on Arts and Humanities Search. You'll be taken to a screen next that has a drop-down menu for databases to search, at which point you'll want to replace AH Search with WilsonSelectPlus on the drop-down menu. Now you can simply type in article or author titles to pull up the full-text articles from the WilsonSelectPlus database. (Please note that at some point during this process you'll most likely be prompted for your USD User ID and Password).

"Panel: Lowell on the Page," by Frank Bidart, Wyuatt Prunty, and Richard Tillinghast, from The Kenyon Review, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Winter 2000), pp. 234-48.

"Lowell's Persistence: The Forms Depression Makes," by Helen Hennessy Vendler, from The Kenyon Review, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Winter 2000), pp. 216-33.

"Confusing a Naive Robert Lowell and Lowell Naeve: "Lost Connections" in 1940's War Resistance at West Street Jail and Danbury Prison," by Philip Metres, from Contemporary Literature, Vol. 41, No. 4 (Winter 2000), pp. 661-92.

Please also re-read 91 Revere Street, from Robert Lowell's Life Studies (will download as a PDF document).

Please also read (or re-read) the following poems from Robert Lowell's Selected Poems:

"Beyond the Alps," p. 55.
"To Delmore Schwartz," p. 63.
"My Last Afternoon with Uncle Devereux Winslow," p. 66.
"Commander Lowell," p. 76.
"Terminal Days at Beverly Farms," p. 79.
"Sailing Home from Rapallo," p. 83.
"Waking in the Blue," p. 87.
"Home After Three Months Away," p. 89.
"Memories of West Street and Lepke," p. 91.
"Skunk Hour," p. 95.
"The Public Garden," p. 113.
"Myopia: A Night," p. 114.
"For the Union Dead," p. 135.

And finally, here's this week's memoir prompt from The Autobiography Box:

Describe a significant quarrel between yourself and a family member. What was the quarrel about? Was the quarrel ongoing over many years or an isolated incident? Did you resolve the difference or did it cause a complete break of relations? Was it violent? Do you regret the quarrel?

Readings/Assignments for Thursday, February 17, 2005

No readings for this class meeting, as we'll be doing the in-class presentations on contemporary American poets (post-1950) this week instead. (Guidelines for presentations are outlined below).

Please note that in lieu of your regularly-scheduled blog post in response to assigned readings, I would like for you to write an informal blog post this week on the volume of poetry that you did for your presentation this week.

Presentation Guidelines:

Presentations should be eight minutes long.

Your presentation should be on a volume of poetry by a contemporary American poet (post-1950).

Your presentation should focus primarily on describing stylistic traits that you notice about this poet (i.e., Themes and/or Subject Matter; Diction, Voice, and Tone; Imagery; Structure/Form; Symbols, etc.)

Bring copies of one representative poem to pass out to the class (18 copies total); read and discuss the poem briefly in conjunction with the stylistic traits you've pointed out.

Keep biographical material to a minimum, unless it's pertinent to the discussion of the poet's work.

Next, here's your memoir prompt from The Autobiography Box for this week:

Is there a piece of music that reminds you of a particular time and place in your life? In Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, there is a violinist named Vinteuil who plays a simple and not very interesting theme of music. But as the years go by, Marcel finds that even a mediocre piece of music can carry with itlots of memory. The music that may cause an outpouring of memories for you may be a Beethoven sonata or a silly pop song. Think of one of these tunes and describe the memories that come to you.

And finally, here's a link to information on the VLP Poetry Festival, coming up on February 24:

http://www.usd.edu/~projlit/poetryfestival.html

Readings/Assignments for Thursday, February 10, 2005

We'll finish up with Anne Sexton, so you'll have a chance to get caught up with readings if you need since there aren't any new critical essays/articles this week.

Please read the following poems from Sharon Olds' Strike Sparks:

"Monarchs," p. 6
"The Language of the Brag," . 8
"New Mother," p. 23
"I Go Back to May 1937," p. 44
"I Cannot Forget the Woman in the Mirror," p. 51
"The Race," p. 63
"Beyond Harm," p. 70
"His Costume," p. 158
"First Weeks," p. 159
"The Clasp," p. 161
"The Window," p. 163

Please read the following poems from Kim Addonizio's Tell Me:

"Therapy," p. 33
"Collapsing Poem," p. 43
"Last Call," p. 54
"Tell Me," p. 65
"Mermaid Song," p. 67
"Affair," p. 70
"'What Do Women Want?'" p. 74
"Good Girl," p. 75
"Physics," p. 76
"Like That," p. 79
"One Night Stands," p. 85

Don't forget that your Modeling Poem #1 is due this week, along with a one-page (250-word) discussion of the specific ways your poem imitates style traits of the poet/poem on which its modeled.

And finally, here is your weekly memoir prompt from The Autobiography Box for this week's blog posts:

Describe a moment of utter depression. Sometimes the gods consire against us. Have you ever felt so down and out that there seemed to be an absence of all hoppe? Was it a series of events, bad luck, or things brought on by character flaws that required remedy?