Poetry Course: Understanding and Writing

OBJECTIVES:

This course is an introduction to the reading, writing and critical examination of poetry. The primary purpose of the course is to familiarize the student with various ways to read, write, evaluate, analyze, and take pleasure in poetry. Providing the opportunity to read some great poets; to study a few poetic traditions; to learn about ideas and experiences that tend to elude ordinary modes of expression; and to learn how to study language in a careful, patient, devoted manner. While exploring poetic language, forms, and techniques, the class will consider some rather fundamental questions about poetry: How do

poets use sounds, forms, and appeals to the senses to make meanings? What's the relationship of a poem to personal identity? What good is poetry? Why do people bother to read poems? Why do readers love and hate poetry? Why do poets write poems? What does poetry do that we should take notice? I imagine that the answers to these questions are diverse and complex, and I hope that within our class discussions these questions will generate a lively conversation and raise further questions about what poetry is and what it does.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES: CREATIVE WRITING: POETRY

1. Develop and create poetry around one central idea

2. Use precise word choice and appropriate grammar, punctuation and spelling

3. Read poetry in various forms, including: a. Sonnets, Haiku, Lyric Poetry. Odes, Ballads, Narratives Blank Verse, Heroic Couplets, Free Verse, Epic Poetry

4. Develop a specific vocabulary for discussing and creating poetry, including: a. Use appropriate literary and artistic terms such as rhyme, rhythm, sound, figurative language, and diction

5. Develop an understanding of and appreciation for the various thematic elements used in writing poetry

6. Respond thoughtfully to diversity present in the readings

7. Analyze how the elements of literature enhance one’s enjoyment and understanding of the text: a. Analyze and develop a critical understanding of how knowledge of a work’s structural components lead to fuller appreciation of the work

TOPICS – Generally, students will explore all aspects of poetry; the great poets and theirs works as well as writing poetry and learning to identify and utilize a variety poetic devices in their own poetry.

1. Introduction: What Is Poetry? How to Experience Poetry / Modes of Poetry (Lyric)

2. Modes of Poetry (Narrative, Dramatic)

3. Voice in Poetry (Person, Tone, Irony)

4. Word Choice, Denotation and Connotation

5. Imagery

6. Metaphor, Simile, and Figures of Speech

7. Rhythm and Meter

8. Rhyme and Stanza

9. The Sonnet

10. Other Poetic Forms (EX: Ballade)

11. Free Verse

12. Myth and Symbols

Great Poets to be explored:

Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost E.A. Poe, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Longfellow, Whitman and countless other.