English 143B

Other Readings and Media

Course Reader

Description

In this course you will conduct a progressive series of experiments in which you will explore some of the fundamental options for writing poetry today—aperture and closure; rhythmic sound patterning; sentence and line; short and long-lined poems; image & figure; stanza; poetic forms (haibun, villanelle, sestina, pantoum, ghazal, etc.); the first, second and third person (persona, address, drama, narrative, description); prose poetry, and revision.  Our emphasis will be on recent possibilities, but with an eye and ear to renovating traditions.  I have no “house style” and only one precept:  you can do anything, if you can do it.  You will write a poem a week, and we’ll discuss five or so in rotation (I’ll respond to every poem you write).  On alternate days, we’ll discuss recent illustrative poems drawn from our course reader.  If the past is any guarantee, the course will make you a better poet.

To be considered for admission to this course, please submit 5 photocopied pages of your poetry, along with an application form, to Professor Shoptaw's box in 322 Wheeler, BY 4:00 P.M., TUESDAY, APRIL 17, AT THE LATEST.

Be sure to read the paragraph concerning creative writing courses on page 1 of this Announcement of Classes for further information regarding enrollment in such courses!