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Creative Writing Poetry ENG543

ENG543, Summer 2013

Creative Writing Workshop: Poetry will develop students poetry writing through both the practice of writing poetry and the critical and aesthetic study of poetry. Students will be trained in the history and the formal practice of poetry writing as they compose in a variety of formal verse forms, combining them in a series of poems written throughout the semester. This course will emphasize critique and revision from the standpoint of the authors goals for his or her work.

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james rovira:
associate professor of english
Im James Rovira, Associate Professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences at Tiffin University. If youre a new student, Im responsible for the curriculum design of the M.Hum. program. I can be reached by email at rovirajtiffin@gmail.com and by instant message at jamesrovira using both Gmail and Yahoo IM services. You can reach me by phone at 419-448-3586. Thats my office number, but its usually set to forward to my cell phone. My office is on the second floor of Bridgewater House, Room 5. I was awarded my Ph.D. by Drew University in 2008 and my M.Phil. in 2004. I received my B.A. from Rollins College in 1996. My book, Blake and Kierkegaard: Creation and Anxiety was released by Continuum in June of 2010 in hardcover and in paperback in December of 2012. Over the last few years Ive presented papers for the International Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, the Modern Language Association, the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the College English Association, the International Conference on Romanticism, the American Literature Association, the Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery, the Conference on Christianity and Literature, and others. Ive published reviews and/or articles in Blake: An Illustrated Quarterly, Christianity and Literature, College Literature, Renascence, Zoamorphosis, The Tower of Babel, Fiera Lingue, and elsewhere. If youd like to learn more about me, check out my website: http://jamesrovira.com I live in the Greater Toledo area with my wife Sheridan and my three children, Penn (8), Grace (5), and Zo (2). The picture above left is of one corner of my study, where I will be doing my work for this class, grading your papers and reading your posts.

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Course Information
Texts
Required
Steven Fry. The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within. Gotham, 2006. ISBN-10: 1592402488; ISBN-13: 9781592402489 The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 4th ed. Princeton UP. Mark Strand and Evan Boland. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. W.W. Norton & Co., 2000. ISBN: 978-0393-32178-4

language appropriately to articulate a complex argument. They also include the ability to listen and to understand and evaluate information. Inquiry and Analysis: Inquiry and analysis are the acts of 1) taking a poorly stated question or problem, 2) clarifying it, 3) recognizing the need for information, 4) identifying, locating, and evaluating information, 5) effectively using this information in coming up with an answer or a solution, and 6) implementing that answer or solution. ABOUT YOUR GRADES All prose assignments and your final poetry portfolio must be submitted to turnitin.com. Go to turnitin.com and join class 6453288, password CWPSU13. I will use the grademark function in turnitin.com to comment on your work. You can view my comments on your assignments by logging in to turnitin.com, selecting Assignments, then clicking Show Details. When you see your paper, click on the Grademark button in the upper left hand corner to see my comments in little blue bubbles, which will appear when you mouse over the bubble. Your gradebook will also be kept on turnitin.com. Log in at any time to track your progress in the course.

About this class

Course Objectives To familiarize students with the conventions and practice of poetry writing, primarily focusing on formal verse forms.

This course will meet the following general education goals set by Tiffin University: Critical Thinking: Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.

Communication Skills: Communication skills include the abilities to communicate in written and oral form and to use

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documentation, academic honesty, attendance, grading

Participation in this course implies agreement with all policies as stated in the course syllabus. Applicable policies are not limited to those explicitly stated in the course syllabus, but also include verbal instruction given privately and in class and university-wide policies. Documentation: All prose papers in this course shall be formatted and documented following MLA th style as described in the MLA Handbook, 7 edition. If you have any questions about how to document a source after checking the handbook please ask me, preferably on the designated threaded discussion thread so other students can benefit as well, but of course by email at any time. Academic honesty: This course will follow Tiffin Universitys academic honesty policy as described in the most recent student handbook. My policy is that the first instance of plagiarism will result in a grade of F for the assignment, while the second will result in a grade of XF for the class, recognizing distinctions between intentional and unintentional plagiarism and common errors in following documentation style. All summaries and final drafts of poems must be submitted to turnitin.com to receive a grade. Attendance will be graded based upon weekly discussion board participation and your participation in at least four live chats over the course of the semester. Should you need to upload your papers in the form of attachments , I can read Word 97-03, 2007, and 2011 documents, .rtf documents, Open Office, and Libre Office documents. I cannot read Microsoft Works documents. Do not submit your papers in this format. Save them as Word files. Documents submitted in Works format will be given a grade of zero. Do not upload/submit poems with illustrations, clip art, colored or illustrated backgrounds, pretty or colored fonts, or in anything other than plain white 8 X 11 format using black Times New Roman 12 pt. font. This is not a greeting card class. However, if you have original photography or artwork that you would like to integrate with your poetry, I am willing to consider this possibility on a case-by-case basis. Please email samples to me with your request and an explanation of how you would like to integrate your own original visual art with your poetry.

course policies:

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Grading
Drafts of poems, threaded discussion posts, and exercises will be worth 60 pts each. You are required to respond to at least two peers threaded discussion posts every week. These responses are worth 20 pts each and will be graded following the rubric on Discussion Board posting posted to eCollege under Course Home. Youll receive a total grade of 100 pts., therefore, for your threaded discussions every week. Try to select students whose posts has not yet received a response, and try to evaluate your peers verse in terms of the goals for the assignment each week. You may want to scan your peers verse and discuss sound, imagery, etc., in your evaluation of it. Final poems will be worth 100 pts each. See the Poetry Rubric at the end of this syllabus for grading standards for poetry. Short prose papers about poetry will be worth 100 pts each. See the Prose rubric at the end of this syllabus for grading standards for prose. Your final poetry portfolio and paper will be worth 500 pts. For your final poetry portfolio you are to review all peer and instructor comments on poems written since the beginning of Fry ch. 3 and revise. Your final poetry paper should be a five to seven page review of your poetry its themes, how these themes followed form, what forms you were most and least comfortable with, and why. Tell us about yourself as a poet in this paper and your growth as a poet over the semester.

schedule:
what happens when.

M May 13 Online chat reviewing syllabus and course to be scheduled by Sunday, May 19th. Introduce yourself in a post to the appropriate threaded discussion by Wed., May 15th, and try to respond to at least two of your peers posts by Friday, May 17th. Read the syllabus, course introduction, and all handouts under Course Home. Su May 19 Reading: Fry, Forward and How to Read This Book (xi-xxv). Strand/Boland pp. xiii-xxix and Part II: Meter. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (NPEPP) entries for Poetics and Poetry. Writing: Summarize the NPEPP entries and post to turnitin.com by midnight EST. All summaries of the NPEPP should be a length appropriate to the length of the entries. Cover the main points of each article but not every detail. See Writing for this Class under Course Home for instructions on summary writing.

W May 22 Reading: Fry 1.1-2. Writing: Fry poetry exercises 1-4, and post exercises 2-4 to the eCollege threaded discussion. Youll be writing verse, but theyre just exercises. Have fun with it. The main thing is to stick to meter. For all threaded discussion assignments, respond to at least two of your peers posts by the following Wednesday or Sunday (Sunday in this case). Su May 26 Reading and Writing: Summary NPEPP Caesura, Enjambment, End-stopped, Accentual Verse posted to turnitin.com by midnight EST. W May 29 Reading: Fry 1.3-5. Writing: Fry poetry exercises 5-7 to threaded discussion.

Su June 2 Reading and writing: Summary NPEPP Rhyme, Assonance, Consonance, post to turnitin.com. W June 5 Reading: Fry 1.6. Writing: Fry poetry exercises 8-9 to threaded discussion. Su June 9 Reading: Fry 2.1-3. Writing: Fry poetry exercise 10 to threaded discussion. W June 12 Reading: Strand/Boland The Stanza (pp. 136-158). Reading and Writing: Summary NPEPP Stanza, Terza Rima, Ottova Rima, Quatrain to turnitin.com.

schedule:
what happens when, continued.
Su June 16 Reading: Fry 3.1-2 . Writing: Fry poetry exercise 11 to threaded discussion. W June 19 Reading: Fry 3.3. Strand/Boland: The Ballad. NPEPP Ballad. Writing: Post a one paragraph prose narrative for your ballad to threaded discussion under Fry Ex. 12. Summarize NPEPP on the ballad, post to turnitin.com. Su June 23 Writing: Post full draft of ballad (under Fry Ex. 12) to threaded discussion. W June 26 Reading: Fry 3.4-5. Strand/Boland The Ode. NPEPP on the ode, anacreontic, sapphic poetry. Writing: Post summary of NPEPP to turnitin.com . Su June 30 Writing: Post sapphic ode to threaded discussions. Su July 7 Reading: Fry 3.6. Strand/Boland on the villanelle. NPEPP on the villanelle. Writing: Post summary of NPEPP to turnitin.com. Post Villanelle to the threaded discussion. W July 10 Reading: Strand/Boland on the sestina NPEPP on the sestina. Writing: Post summary of NPEPP to turnitin.com . Select your six words and write an outline of your poem mapping out the order of these six words in each stanza. Append to the end of your summary. See threaded discussion instructions too. Su July 14 Writing: Post Fry Ex. 15: sestina to threaded discussion. W July 17 Reading: Fry 3.6 and Strand/Boland on the pantoum and ballade. Fry 3.7 and NPEPP on the rondeau, rondel, and triolet. Writing: Post summary of NPEPP to turntin.com. Su July 21 Writing: Post Fry Ex. 16 to threaded discussion. You may attempt a pantoum or a ballade in lieu of Fry Ex. 16. W July 24 Reading: Fry 3.8 and NPEPP on the cento, clerihew, and the limerick. Writing: Post summary to turnitin.com. Su July 28 Writing: Post Fry Ex. 17 or other comic form to threaded discussion. W July 31 Reading: Fry 3.10, Strand/Boland, and NPEPP on the sonnet and Petrarchism. Writing:

Summarize and post to turnitin.com .

Su Aug. 4 Writing: Fry Ex. 3.19: Post first draft of either Petrarchan or Shakespearean sonnet to threaded discussion. Sun Aug. 11 Writing: Post final poetry portfolio containing revised poems and your final poetry paper to threaded discussion and to turnitin.com (Final Portfolio Folder). Keep all documents in a single Word file. Post two responses to your peers portfolios by Aug. 16th.

rubric: poetry

the following rubric will be used to grade your poems.

Characteristics of an A poem: Demonstrates easy mastery and creative use of verse conventions appropriate to the specific poem. Demonstrates the ability to exploit multiple senses of individual words and phrases so that the poem means in several different yet interrelated ways simultaneously. Demonstrates careful attention to the rhythm and sound of words and the mood(s) that they invoke. Demonstrates sophistication of thought and of expression.

Characteristics of a B poem: Demonstrates controlled competence in verse conventions appropriate to the specific poem. Demonstrates some ability to exploit multiple senses of individual words and phrases so that the poem means in several different yet interrelated ways simultaneously. Demonstrates attention to the rhythm and sound of words and the mood(s) that they invoke, with perhaps occasional lapses. Demonstrates sophistication of thought and of expression, but not to the degree of an A paper.

Characteristics of a C poem: Demonstrates knowledge of verse conventions appropriate to the specific poem, with some difficulty in execution. Demonstrates little ability to exploit multiple senses of individual words and phrases so that the poem means in several different yet interrelated ways simultaneously, but words are used properly in at least one sense. Demonstrates some but inconsistent attention to the rhythm and sound of words and the mood(s) that they invoke. Demonstrates little sophistication of thought and of expression.

Characteristics of a D poem: Demonstrates little knowledge or ability in the conventions appropriate to the specific poem. Demonstrates poor or inconsistent attention to the meaning of words. Demonstrates no attention to the rhythm and sound of words and the mood(s) that they invoke. Demonstrates no sophistication of thought and of expression.

rubric: prose
the following rubric will be used to grade your summaries and other prose writing.

Characteristics of an A paper: The A paper is a highly sophisticated paper that supports an original thesis with a complex argument that skillfully and correctly integrates substantial outside research. The A paper demonstrates not only substantial understanding of primary and secondary reading but the ability to advance knowledge with its insight into the material. It has few or no grammatical or punctuation errors -- no more than three or four for every five pages of w riting -- and maintains a highly academic tone that correctly and effectively employs field-specific language.

Characteristics of a B paper: The B paper fulfills all requirements of the assignment. It meets or exceeds research requirements effectively, demonstrating comprehension of all sources. It properly documents its sources with no more than two or three citation errors. It is almost free of grammatical or punctuation errors, having no more than one or two errors per page, but while highly competent, the B paper lacks the insight and linguistic competence characterizing the A essay.

Characteristics of a C paper: The average college-level paper will receive a grade of C. This paper is w ritten well enough to be easy to follow, but could benefit from some restructuring or additional paragraphs. It meets minimum assignment requirements for research and other elements and integrates sources correctly following the most basic requirements of the assigned documentation style; in-text citations are clearly keyed to the references, bibliography, or works cited page. It d emonstrates basic reading comprehension of both primary and secondary sources. It may have some minor punctuation, capitalization, grammatical, or spelling errors or some use of informal language but is generally appropriate and correct.
Characteristics of a D paper: The D paper is deficient in one or more of the following areas: structure/organization, research, reading comprehension, documentation, word choice, grammar, or punctuation, capitalization, or spelling. The grade of D indicates below-average achievement in organizing ideas, expressing ideas, understanding sources, writing correctly, or following documentation style. Most D papers contain serious errors in usage and fail to present a central thesis or to develop it adequately. These essay standards summarize the Writing Intensive Class rubric created by Dr. Jim Rovira and Dr. Sherry Truffin in the Summer of 2011. The rubric itself is integrated into turnitin.com and will be used to score your papers.

Contact

GRADE SCALE A AB+ B BC+ C CD+ D DF 93-100 90-92 87-89 83-86 80-82 77-79 73-76 70-72 67-69 63-66 60-62 59 or below

james rovira
155 Miami Street Tiffin, OH 44883 419-448-3586 http://www.jamesrovira.com