ENGL 340 Poetry | Section A| Fall 2005 | Gregory EiseleinReadings and Assignments Schedule 1Note on the Reading Assignments. Before you come to class, read and re-read carefullythe assigned poems for that date. During the class period prior to a reading assignment, Imay designate a poem or two (or some aspect of all of the poems) for special attention.Unless otherwise indicated, the page numbers listed on the Reading Schedule refer to TheNorton Anthology of Poetry (5th edition). Please read the very short biographical sketchesabout each of the day's assigned poets as well (see pages 2075-2139 in the Norton.) If I’veassigned a selection from Stephen Adams’s Poetic Designs or the essays on "Syntax" and"Versification" in the Norton, I would encourage you to read those pages as well. If a poemhas a links to The Norton Anthology of Poetry Workshop Online (designated by a  below),you will not want to miss a look at those online materials.Note on the Terms. Please learn the terms listed for each daily assignment. Please refer toyour syllabus for a list of books and websites where you can find those terms defined. As Isaid on the first day of class, I want you to learn terms so you have a language for talkingabout what you see in poems. Still, don’t get hung-up on the terms. Get hung-up on thepoems.Readings and Assignments ScheduleAug 22M IntroductionsAug 24W How do poems mean?Reading:  William Blake, "London," 744-45; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,"The Jewish Cemetery at Newport," 952-53;  Emily Dickinson, 479 (712),1119; Edward Arlington Robinson, "Miniver Cheevy," 1213-14; Billy Collins,"Litany," 1918; Yusef Komunyakaa, "Banking Potatoes," 1950. Plus: JonStallworthy, "Versification," 2027-28.Assignment to bring to class: Read each of the poems carefully, and chooseone. Write out its lines as if they were prose sentences. Make paragraphswhere you think there should be paragraphs. Read this "prose" to yourself,and bring it to class. You may type or hand-write this assignment.Terms: poetry, verse, lyric, punctuation, verse paragraphAug 26F Do poems always mean something?Reading: John Skelton, "Mannerly Margery Milk and Ale," 90-91;  SamuelTaylor Coleridge, "Kubla Kahn," 809-10; Edward Lear, poems, 1041-1044;Lewis Carroll, "Jabberwocky," 1135-36; Gertrude Stein, from "Stanzas inMeditation," 1248-1250; E. E. Cummings, "next to of course god America i,"1394; John Ashbery, "Brute Image," 1740.2Assignment: Read each of these poems carefully. Choose one and explainwhat it says or what it means in about a paragraph. Then choose one of theother poems, one that you do not understand, and write a paragraph thattalks about the poem in an interesting, observant way without explaining themeaning of the poem. You may type or hand-write this assignment.Terms: indeterminacy, nonsense verseAug 26 F Poetry Reading: Creative Writing Faculty, Welcome Back Reading3:30 p.m., Union 212Aug 29M Speakers and PersonasReading:  Christopher Marlowe, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,"256;  Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses," 992-994; Charlotte Mew, "TheFarmer's Bride," 1216-17; Bob Dylan, "Boots of Spanish Leather," 1854-55;Judith Wright, "Eve to Her Daughters," 1579-80; Craig Raine, "A MartianSends a Postcard Home," 1943-44. Plus: Jon Stallworthy, "Versification,"2027-28.Assignment: Make a list that briefly describes the speaker of each of thesepoems. Then choose one of the poems and write a more detailed (one-paragraph long) character analysis of the speaker and his/her/their/itssituation.Terms: persona, speaker, poet, epic poetry, dramatic poetry, dialogue,monologue, dramatic monologueAug 31W ToneReading: Richard Lovelace, "To Lucasta, Going to the Wars," 430;  WilfredOwen, "Dulce et Decorum Est," 1276-77; William Blake, "Holy Thursday [II],"679; Christina Rossetti, "Song," 1128; Theodore Roethke, "My Papa's Waltz,"1494;  Gwendolyn Brooks, "We Real Cool," 1588.Assignment: Select one of today's poems and write a paragraph that describesthe speaker's attitude or feelings toward the subject of the poem. What wordsin the poem suggest or convey those feelings? Is there anything complex orcomplicated about this attitude or the emotions in the poem? If so, how wouldyou describe that complexity?Terms: tone, voice, topic, subject, themeSept 2 F Words (and why poems mean more than they say)Reading: Emily Dickinson, 372 (341), 1117; Paul Laurence Dunbar, "WeWear the Mask," 1223; Randall Jarrell, "The Death of the Ball TurretGunner," 1553; Henry Reed, "Lessons of the War," 1564-66; James Wright, "ABlessing," 1750;  Li-Young Lee, "Persimmons," 2011-13.3Assignment: Choose five words from the poems scheduled for today (Irecommend choosing words that stick out.) Look up each word in thedictionary (I recommend using the Oxford English Dictionary). For eachword, answer the following questions: How would it change the poem tochange this word (leave it out, use a phrase or synonym in its place, etc.)?What does this word suggest that other, substitute words might not?Terms: connotation, denotation, lexis, diction (formal/elevated, informal/colloquial, abstract, concrete), ambiguitySept 5 M Labor Day. No Class.Sept 7 W Syntax and Poetic LineReading:  William Shakespeare, Sonnet 146, 9; William Blake, "The Lamb,"734; William Blake, "The Tyger," 743-44; Dorothy Parker, "Résumé," 1391;Jean Toomer, selected poems from Cane, 1398-1400; Allen Ginsberg, "ASupermarket in California," 1713-14. Plus: Margaret Ferguson, "PoeticSyntax," 2053-73.Assignment: 1) Choose a sentence from one of the poems above and re-writeit, in prose, in a way that alters or rearranges the syntax; make sure therewritten sentence is a grammatically complete, clear, and correct sentence.2) Rewrite one of the poems to change its line length—short to long, long toshort, fixed length to varied, or whatever you invent; make sure yourrewritten verse is still a poem.Terms: line, syntaxSept 9 F Meter 1Reading:  Edmund Spenser, Sonnet 75, 194; William Shakespeare, Sonnet94, 265; Phillis Wheatley, "On Being Brought from Africa to America," 720-721; William Wordsworth, "I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud," 801; EmilyDickinson, 340 (280), 1115-16; Christina Rossetti, "Remember," 1128. Plus:Jon Stallworthy, "Versification," 2029-36; Stephen Adams, Poetic Designs, 1-30, 203-17.Assignment: 1) Listen carefully to some conversations this week. See if youcan't detect some phrases, lines, sentences in ordinary speech thatapproximate iambic pentameter