Document Type

Syllabus

Publication Date

Spring 2024

Course Description

Many great literary works were inspired by writers’ obsessions. In discussing her processing of writing, Susan Sontag said: “You have to be obsessed. It’s not something you’d want to be—it’s rather something you couldn’t help but be.” In our poetry writing workshop, we will harness our obsessions as a catalyst to write new poems. What are subjects that constantly occupy your attention? This could be mild infatuations to full blown obsessions. In order to lend depth and structure for our poems for this course, we will read closely the works of three contemporary poets, and from our readings, examine their subjects, writing styles, and how they carefully select their words to express complicated emotions. As a final caveat in further describing our poetry writing workshop here’s the poet, Dean Young: “People use language for two reasons: to be understood and not be understood. Poetry operates within this tension. To be understood yearns for community and adheres to conventions and repeated decorum. That may seem important, but it can also encourage us to push away strangeness and beguilement that often leads to surprising turns and interesting discoveries.” I think our job is to find ways to surprise not only our readers, but also our self in our writing. Our major comes from the tradition of “Creative Writing” because our allegiance is to the imagination.

Student Outcomes

I expect you to have a genuine love for learning and curiosity to learn from other poets. I expect you to buy the assigned books and bring the appropriate hardcopy when we are discussing the text in class. You are also required to read the assigned readings carefully and to come prepared to discuss them in class. A third of each meeting will be devoted to discussions on the reading assignments and on the writers from the assigned text. From your notes on the readings, you might remark upon your discoveries, questions, and craft issues you want to explore further. I also expect you to submit 5 poems by the end of the semester. This is not to say that you will write only 5 new pieces for this class. You may in fact write twice as many, but you will be turning in only one poem for each workshop deadline. You are also expected to write an artist statement to be included with your revised workshopped pieces in your final portfolio. All written assignments for workshop will be submitted in a shared Google Drive (titled for example, “Poem #1”) in a sub-folder nested within a main Google Folder (ENG 311: Poetry Writing) in your Google Drive.

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