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READING POETRY | ENGLIT 0315

SYLLABUS | SPRING 2017

Racheal Fest, PhD. University of Pittsburgh. Department of English

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Reading Poetry | The Role of the Poet in US Life

[W]hat makes the poet the potent figure that he is, or was, or ought to be, is that he
creates the world to which we turn incessantly and without knowing it and that he
gives to life the supreme fictions without which we are unable to conceive of it.
—Wallace Stevens

What is a poet? Answers to this deceptively simple question change over time, so
we’ll take an historical and national approach to it this semester. We will explore
the ways some of the most influential US poets have imagined the nature and value
of their own activity over the last 150 years. In order to identify exactly what these
writers hoped their poems might accomplish, we’ll read both their poems and their
meditations on poetry. As we’ll see, some call all creative human activity poetry.
Others believe poems represent the highest possible human achievement. Still
others take up, and try to answer, important political questions in their poems.

Along the way, we’ll learn to describe how poetry is made and how its sounds and
rhythms move us. We’ll also consider how poets respond to the conditions and
problems they confront in their worlds. In the end, we’ll ask whether or not poets
offer us singular and valuable ways of thinking about human life.

This writing-intensive course is required for poets. It is also fulfills LIT

(Literature) and W (Writing) general education requirements. Students will
therefore explore literary texts through critical writing. At the end of the course,
students will be able to compose original critical readings of poems and make
novel arguments about poetry’s significance for US life.

REQUIRED TEXTS
Dickinson, Emily. Dickinson: Poems. New York: Everyman's Library, 1993.
Hayes, Terrance. How to Be Drawn. New York: Penguin, 2015.
Hejinian, Lynn. My Life and My Life in the Nineties. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University

Press, 2013.
Locke, Alain, ed. The New Negro: Voices of the Harlem Renaissance. New York: Touchstone,
1999.
Stevens, Wallace. Collected Poems. New York: Vintage, 2013.
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. 1855. New York: Penguin, 2005.
*Other readings available on CourseWeb (CW)
ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADES

Final Grades
Assignment Weight
Participation and Discussion Board 15%
Presentation 15%
Essay 1 15%
Essay 2 20%
Final Paper 35%

Assignments

Participation
I note participation at the end of each session. Come to class each day ready to participate.
Complete all reading, bring assigned texts to class, and try to speak at every meeting. If you do
not bring your text, seem distracted, or use a device during class, you will not receive
participation credit that day. Students may post additional comments on Discussion Board
threads to bolster “Participation” grades.

Writing Assignments
See assignment sheets for specific instructions.
❑ Discussion Board (4 @ 500 words/each): Discussion board posts respond to specific
questions. You can access CourseWeb at http://courseweb.pitt.edu. Please contact me if
you encounter technical difficulties. I read all posts before class and total points at the
end of the semester (no late posts).
❑ Presentation (2 page close reading + discussion, 10 minutes total): Students read short
papers aloud in class. Presentations offer a brief interpretation of a poem you choose.
Each student leads class discussion with 2-3 questions after his or her presentation.
❑ Essays (2 @ 4-5 pages/each): Each essay develops a sustained reading of a poem (or
poems) you select.
❑ Final Paper (7-9 pages): Final papers make an argument about two or more poems you
select. Students submit a short proposal in advance of the due date (see sequence).
❑ Formatting Instructions: Presentations, essays, and papers should be double-spaced with
standard margins in 12-point Times New Roman font. Number pages and include a title.

Use MLA style for all written assignments (include in-text citations and Works Cited
page). The MLA Handbook is available at Hillman Library or for purchase at the
bookstore.
❑ SafeAssign: Each day an essay is due, bring a hard copy to class and upload a digital copy
to SafeAssign on CourseWeb before class meets. In CourseWeb, click “Assignments.”
Then, select the appropriate assignment and upload your document. Contact me if you
have technical questions. Final essay revisions are due in my mailbox (CL 501) and on
CW. See sequence, below, for due dates.
COURSE POLICIES
Late Work
Please submit all work at the date and time the sequence indicates. I do not accept late discussion
board posts. I deduct one third of a letter from an essay’s final grade for each day it is late (C+ =
C). Late essays do not receive comments. Request an extension at least one day before an essay
is due.

Attendance
Attendance at all sessions is mandatory. I permit each student one absence for the term. If you
are absent twice, I subtract half a letter from your final grade (A=B+, B+=B-, and so on). If you
are absent three times, you might be in danger of failing the course. I record one absence when
you arrive late for three sessions or miss a significant portion of two (due to late arrival or early
departure). You are responsible for materials you miss. Contact a peer or schedule a meeting
with me during office hours to review materials and assignments.

Academic Integrity
Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. Use MLA style to cite all quoted or paraphrased
material for all course assignments. Students suspected of violating the University of Pittsburgh
Policy on Academic Integrity, from the February 1974 Senate Committee on Tenure and
Academic Freedom reported to the Senate Council, will be required to participate in the outlined
procedural process as initiated by the instructor. A minimum sanction of a zero score for the quiz
or exam will be imposed, and you might fail the course. I report all plagiarism cases to the
university.

Statement on Classroom Recording

To ensure the free and open discussion of ideas, students may not record classroom lectures,
discussion and/or activities without the advance written permission of the instructor, and any
such recording properly approved in advance can be used solely for the student’s own private
use.
Students with Disabilities
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, contact both
your instructor and the Office of Disability Resources and Services (DRS), 140 William Pitt
Union, 412-648-7890, drsrecep@pitt.edu, 412-228-5347 for P3 ASL users, as early as possible
in the term. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this
course.

RESOURCES

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA)

Kayla Bloodgood is the Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for ENGLIT 0315 this semester.
Kayla is an advanced literature major in the English Department at Pitt. After graduation, she
plans to pursue a graduate degree in literature. This semester, she will monitor and join the
course discussion board, help administer course content, and hold office hours before each essay
is due. She will also be available by appointment to discuss presentations. Please imagine Kayla
as the valuable and friendly resource she is here to be. Contact her at kmb238@pitt.edu. Office
hours and location TBA.

Writing Center
Located on the third floor of the O’Hara Student Center, the Writing Center offers events,
courses, and one-on-one tutorials for undergraduate students. Although consultants do not
correct, edit, or proofread papers, they can teach you strategies for organizing, editing, and
revising your writing. You can meet with a consultant once or regularly over the course of the
semester. Writing Center services are free. Browse services or make an appointment by visiting
www.writingcenter.pitt.edu.

SEQUENCE (may change) *Available on CW

Date Reading Due Assignment Due

1.5 Introduction

1.12 Plato
*Excerpts from Republic

1.19 Whitman Discussion Board 1 (post by

Leaves of Grass (1855), “Preface” midnight, comment before class)

1.26 Whitman Presentation 1

Leaves of Grass (1855), “Song of Myself”

2.2 Dickinson Discussion Board 2 (post by

Poems midnight, comment before class)

Presentation 2

2.9 Dickinson Presentation 3

Poems

2.16 Stevens Essay 1 (due in class and on CW)

Selections from Harmonium and Ideas of
Order
*“The Noble Rider and the Sound of Words”

2.23 Stevens Presentation 4

Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction
*“The Noble Rider and the Sound of Words”

3.2 Locke, ed. Discussion Board 3 (post by

The New Negro anthology, “Foreword” (xxv- midnight, comment before class)
xxvii), “The New Negro” (3-16), “Negro Youth
Speaks” (47-53), “The Legacy of the Ancestral Presentation 5
Arts” (254-268)

*Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Visual Essay, excerpt from “The Trope of a
New Negro and the Reconstruction of the
Image of the Black”

M 3.5 – F 3.10 | NO CLASS | Spring Break

3.16 Locke, ed. Presentation 6

The New Negro anthology, “Poetry” (129-150)

and “Music” (199-228)

3.23 Hejinian Essay 2 (due in class and on CW)

My Life
*“Barbarism”

3.30 Hejinian Presentation 7

My Life
*“Barbarism”

4.6 Hayes Discussion Board 4 (post by

How to Be Drawn midnight, comment before class)
*Video, Hayes at the 2016 National Book
Awards Presentation 8

4.13 Hayes Final Paper Proposal (due in class

How to Be Drawn and on CW)

Presentation 9
4.20 Conclusion

4.27 NO CLASS | Final Examination Period Final Paper (due 5 PM in 501 CL

mailbox and on CW)