ENGH 685: Selected Topics, Movements, or Genres of Literature in English

ENGH 685-003: Poetry frm Rsch/Poetry as Rsch
(Spring 2019)

04:30 PM to 07:10 PM R

Section Information for Spring 2019

ENGL 685:003 :: POETRY FROM/AS RESEARCH

In this course we will explore definitions of research, definitions of poetry, and a variety of relationships between the two. We will ask not only what kinds of research have fed our poetics, but also how poetry itself can become a form of research. Further, in a poem that deals ostensibly with fact, what is a reader’s role in interpreting or completing meaning? What can we learn from a poem’s sound? How do undigested quotations, linguistic exploration, or taking a walk determine or interact with a poem’s form? How present is the poet in the “information” conveyed or sampled? We will ask these questions, and more, through the work of a diverse selection of 20th c. and contemporary poets working in docupoetry and ecopoetry, investigative, performative, and visual poetics, as well as narrative, persona, lyric, and collage. The reading list is not yet final but will span North American, South American, British, and Pacific poets, such as Christian Bök, Allison Cobb, Alec Finlay, C.S. Giscombe, Shane MacCrae, Philip Metres, Lorine Niedecker, Mark Nowak, M. Nourbese Philip, Ed Roberson, Craig Santos Perez, Brian Teare, Cecelia Vicuña, C.D. Wright, and Margaret Yocom. Some use books and archives and some prefer oral sources. Some read and some travel. Their topics include everything from oil spills and geology, to civil rights, colonialism, exile, and the slave trade. Some poets work with highly personal material; some draw on their experience to shape an impersonal methodology. One poet uses historical and textual investigation, translation, and erasure poetry to open new readings of a Grimm Brothers tale. Another uses a keen ear for sound and Objectivist poetics to blend the disciplines of travel journal, geology, and American frontier history. One composed a 224pp book using only words that appear in a 1783 legal decision. One researched pre-Christian ritual in Scotland as the basis of a national memorial to organ donors and recipients. One rode his bike into Canada’s Northwest Territories in pursuit of a name. One creates personae from the histories of enslaved Americans. One strings thread on a beach, and one reproduces the floorplans of US Government “black site” interrogation centers. A feature of our course will be reliance on the poets’ own articulation of their practice, in essays and interviews, as well as class visits or Skype discussions. Requirements include weekly online discussion questions and responses, short written analyses of the relationship between “research” and “poetry” in particular texts, and a final project—critical, pedagogical, or creative—tailored to each student’s discipline.

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Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Content varies. Notes: May be repeated with permission of department. May be repeated within the term for a maximum 12 credits.
Specialized Designation: Topic Varies
Registration Restrictions:

Enrollment limited to students with a class of Advanced to Candidacy, Graduate, Junior Plus, Non-Degree or Senior Plus.

Enrollment is limited to Graduate, Non-Degree or Undergraduate level students.

Students in a Non-Degree Undergraduate degree may not enroll.

Schedule Type: Lec/Sem #1, Lec/Sem #2, Lec/Sem #3, Lec/Sem #4, Lec/Sem #5, Lec/Sem #6, Lec/Sem #7, Lec/Sem #8, Lec/Sem #9, Lecture, Sem/Lec #10, Sem/Lec #11, Sem/Lec #12, Sem/Lec #13, Sem/Lec #14, Sem/Lec #15, Sem/Lec #16, Sem/Lec #17, Sem/Lec #18
Grading:
This course is graded on the Graduate Regular scale.

The University Catalog is the authoritative source for information on courses. The Schedule of Classes is the authoritative source for information on classes scheduled for this semester. See the Schedule for the most up-to-date information and see Patriot web to register for classes.