ENGL 20 - Introduction to Poetry

Transfer Status

CSU/UC

Unit(s)

3.00

• Lecture: 51.00 Contact hours/102.00 Out of class hours/153.00 Total hours/3.00 Unit(s)
• Total: 51.00 Contact hours/102.00 Out of class hours/153.00 Total hours/3.00 Unit(s)

Course Description: In this course students will study the contemporary poetry of various cultures, styles and literary movements. Emphasis is placed upon deepening the student's understanding of poetry in a historical and social context. Graded only.

Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Analyze themes within course texts and compare them to the ways these themes are treated in other course texts. and interpreting literature.
2. Synthesize analyses of specific details in particular works of literature in support of a clear, overall point or thesis.
3. Identify, employ and evaluate different frameworks for analyzing and interpreting literature.
4. Recognize and describe different poetic forms, structures, elements of the craft and appropriate literary terminology.
5. Recognize and discuss a wide range of poetry from contemporary to canonical work that is diverse in voice, style, subject matter, and ethnic and cultural origin.

Topic Titles / Suggested Time Topic

Lecture

1. Class Activities
2. Collaborative Group Work
3. Discussion
4. Homework: Students are required to complete two hours of outside-of-class homework for each hour of lecture
5. Lecture
6. Reading Assignments
7. Class discussion
   Small group discussion of poems
   Films,videos of poetry readings, and poetry online, i.e., Poets.org, Poetry Daily, and literary magazines online.

1. Exams/Tests
2. Oral Presentation
3. Journal
4. Written Assignments
5. Essays and research papers
6. Class Discussion
7. In class writing, Critical papers totaling at least 2,500 words; at least one of these papers should involve outside research in literary criticism and/or biography

Reading Assignments

1. Read assigned course text and analyze the poems in terms of the elements of craft. Prepare for discussion in class based on your analysis of poems.
2. Read assigned book of poems and be prepared to discuss the form the poems take and how they relate to the content of the poems. Also be prepared to discuss what lense you analyze the poems through, i.e. psycholanalytic, gender specific, socioeconomic, formalism or new criticism.

Writing Assignments

1. Write an essay examining and analyzing several poems through the lense of a particular literary theory. Consider the historical, social and cultural contexts of the poems. 1000- 1250 words.
2. Explicate a poem from the assigned text that interests you. Analyze the diction and imagery in the poem, and discuss the poet's choices and whether or not you find them effective. Two pages, or 500 words.

Out-of-Class Assignments

1. Attend a poetry reading locally or watch a poetry reading on-line. Write a review of the experience.
2. Read a book of contemporary poetry from the library, and write an essay in which you review the book, analyzing the poems from a traditionalist, formalist or new criticism perspective. 500-750 words.

ed. Ilya Kaminsky and Susan Harris. (2010). The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry. Ecco press.

Bonczek Evory, Michelle. (2018). Naming the Unnameable: An Approach to Poetry for New Generations. Open SUNY Textbooks, OER.

Hirsch, Edward. (2000). How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry. Harvest Book. 978-1337569613.

Hoover, Paul. (2013). Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology. W.W. Norton, 2nd.

Pinsky, Robert. (2019). The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall. Norton, 1st.

Other Learning Materials

Specific texts and individual authors to be determined by instructor

English (Masters Required)