Mairéad Byrne, PhD E411-01 W9.40-12.40 CB521 RISD Literary Arts + Studies E411-02 Th9.40-12.40 CB301 Office: CB 528 Office hours WTh 2-4.30 454.6268 http://begpo.blogspot.com [email protected]Beginning Poetry Workshop Writing is the joy when all other joys have failed. --Russell Edson I breathe and a poem jumps up. --Tomaz Salamun This Course The first thing I would like to do is welcome you into this class. You have come to express your interest in poetry and of all the arts, poetry is the most responsive. Now I can’t say for sure what I just said is true but it’s said anyway now. Give poetry a little and you will get a lot. When you have no other materials, you can write poetry. When you have no paper or pencil, you can write on a styrofoam cup or in the sand. When you are in prison and have no cup, you can write in your head. All you need to write poetry is the attention of another person, or belief that there will be another person to listen, some time. There is an enormously rich culture of poetry in all languages and you are all invited in. To enjoy poetry you just need to be able to hold words in your head, to savor, to remember. You don’t need any special license. No one class or race or gender is appointed to poetry. Poetry is for everyone, to write and to read. In an art and design school, poetry can provide a n additional space in which to try out ideas and experiment. Strange things happen. I’ve been teaching at RISD for 10 years and my students from workshops in those early years have now published books of fiction and poetry, earned MFAs in writing, and have teaching jobs in this field. Not everyone from every workshop will root his or her artistic practice in writing but one or two out of each workshop will. Everyone will benefit from entering the making and performance culture of poetry. For some it will be an alternative studio space; for others it will become primary. This course aims • to help you make a strong and lasting bond with poetry • to provoke play and experiment with words • to support an appreciation of economic forms • to encourage you to participate in the culture of contemporary poetry Objectives Grading FALL 2012 E411-01/02 RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN your grade will be calculated as follows • weekly binder (25 points per week), 250 • final collection (chapbook), 250 • 5 X 1-page papers (guidelines given), 200 • critique & collaboration, 200 • performance, 100 PAGE ONE OF SIX by the end of this course, you will will have • established a daily practice of writing • written and distributed a poetry chapbook • read at least 5 books of poetry thoroughly • developed a writing community • participated in a poetry reading for an audience outside this class • learned the workshop methodology
Beginning Poetry Workshop Writing is the joy when all other joys have failed. --Russell Edson I breathe and a poem jumps up. --Tomaz Salamun
This Course
The first thing I would like to do is welcome you into this class. You have come to express your interest in poetry and of all the arts, poetry is the most responsive. Now I can’t say for sure what I just said is true but it’s said anyway now. Give poetry a little and you will get a lot. When you have no other materials, you can write poetry. When you have no paper or pencil, you can write on a styrofoam cup or in the sand. When you are in prison and have no cup, you can write in your head. All you need to write poetry is the attention of another person, or belief that there will be another person to listen, some time.
There is an enormously rich culture of poetry in all languages and you are all invited in. To enjoy poetry you just need to be able to hold words in your head, to savor, to remember. You don’t need any special license. No one class or race or gender is appointed to poetry. Poetry is for everyone, to write and to read.
In an art and design school, poetry can provide a n additional space in which to try out ideas and experiment. Strange things happen. I’ve been teaching at RISD for 10 years and my students from workshops in those early years have now published books of fiction and poetry, earned MFAs in writing, and have teaching jobs in this field. Not everyone from every workshop will root his or her artistic practice in writing but one or two out of each workshop will. Everyone will benefit from entering the making and performance culture of poetry. For some it will be an alternative studio space; for others it will become primary.
This course aims
• to help you make a strong and lasting bond with poetry• to provoke play and experiment with words• to support an appreciation of economic forms• to encourage you to participate in the culture of contemporary poetry
Objectives Grading
FALL 2012 E411-01/02 RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN
your grade will be calculated as follows• weekly binder (25 points per week), 250 • final collection (chapbook), 250 • 5 X 1-page papers (guidelines given), 200• critique & collaboration, 200• performance, 100
PAGE ONE OF SIX
by the end of this course, you will will have• established a daily practice of writing• written and distributed a poetry chapbook • read at least 5 books of poetry thoroughly• developed a writing community• participated in a poetry reading for an audience
outside this class• learned the workshop methodology
The Beginning Poetry Workshop is a creative writing course; our focus is on writing. Approximately half our class time every week will be devoted to workshop (see next section); you will also write for 20 minutes in each class.
When you write poetry, you join a community of poets. This class may be your first such community--working relationships with its members may continue long after the course is over. The community of poets you meet through the books and poems we read in this class can be more enduring still.
This course requires daily writing (20 minutes a day). You are required to organize and collect this writing in a binder for my in-class review every week.
You will write 5 one-page papers on the books, four assigned and one self-selected; this preliminary deliberation will strengthen the quality of our discussion.
The schedule is arranged to introduce the elements of poetry (sound, subject, audience). In the first half of the semester, rich production will be emphasized. I will give brief written feedback on one poem a week from each one of you, and a general progress review at mid-semester. I would like to meet each one of you, one-on-one, at least once during the semester. In the last five weeks of the class, we will focus on performance and publication (revision, selection, order, experimenting with voice, finding an audience, making and distributing a chapbook of poetry). By the end of the course you should be able to run your own workshop.
Workshop
The workshop is the basis of our class meeting. Every week you will turn in a printed poem. Every week also, three students will distribute copies of their poems to everyone in class. Before the next class meeting, when the distributed poems will be workshopped, you will carefully read and annotate them. Poems need time, and relationship.
In class, each poem to be workshopped is read first by a student other than the author, then by its author. We take 20-25 minutes to discuss the poem, the author listening until the end, when we turn to ask for input. There is no need for the author to explain anything during the discussion. Instead, the poem is brought to life by the readings of others, just as poetry operates in the world.
The workshop teaches many valuable skills related to time, silence, listening, the vivacity of the audience, and the autonomy of the poem. At the end of each discussion, signed annotated copies are returned to the author, loaded with response. It can be very invigorating to get detailed responses to a poem you have written. The workshop is only as good as the standard of critique. Observant and intelligent critique is the best service you can render to others in this course.
Additional methodologies
In addition to workshop, we will employ a range of methodologies including
• weekly close reading of a poem selected and presented by me, or you
• weekly in-class writing
• weekly discussions of assigned and/or self-selected readings (based on 5 X 1-page papers)
• course blog to which you can post poems, information about events, links to work you recommend, etc
• attendance at public readings
• visiting writers, if possible
PAGE TWO OF SIX BEGINNING POETRY WORKSHOP FALL 2012
FALL 2012 E411-01/02 RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN
Texts & Materials
Please buy the following books. You must have books #1-5 by class week 3; you must have your self-selected book in class week 5.
1. Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms, ed. Ron Padgett (available at Symposium Books, 240 Westminster Street)2. Gertrude Stein, Tender Buttons. (1914) Dover Books, 1997.3. Frank O’Hara, Lunch Poems. City Lights Pocket Poets Series, (1964) 2001.4. Joe Brainard, I Remember. (1970) Granary Press, 20015. Jen Bervin, Nets. Ugly Duckling Presse, 2003.6. A book of your choice from Symposium Books or Small Press Distribution http://www.spdbooks.org
You will also need a good binder in which to collect your daily writings. A good notebook may also serve. As I will be reviewing your writing as it builds, a binder might work best; if you use plastic sleeves, you can insert pages from other sources.
You will also need to provide 15 copies of your workshop poem at least twice during the semester.
If you are looking for recommendations, check out these books:
The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry: From Ancient to Contemporary, The Full 3,000 Year Tradition. Edited by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping. Anchor, 2005.Caroline Bergvall, Fig. Salt Modern Poets, 2005. Linda Bierds, The Profile Makers. Owl Books, 1997.Elizabeth Bishop, The Complete Poems, 1927-1979. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1984.William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: A Facsimile in Full Color. Dover Books, 1994.Christian Bök, Eunoia. Coach House Press, (second edition 2009 but first edition is fine)Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672), To My Husband and Other Poems. Dover, 2011.Kamau Brathwaite, Trench Town Rock. Lost Roads Press, 1994 Lucille Clifton, Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems, 1988-2000. Boa Editions, 2000.Hart Crane, Complete Poems. Ed. Marc Simon. Liveright, 2001.John Donne, Selected Poems. Dover, 1983.Russell Edson, The Tunnel. Oberlin University Press, 1994.Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Major Works. Edited by Catherine Phillips. Oxford UP, 2009.Langston Hughes, Collected Poems. Ed. Arnold Rampersad. Vintage, 1995.D.H. Lawrence, Birds, Beasts, and Flowers. Shearsman, 2011. Sylvia Plath, Ariel: The Restored Edition: A facsimile of Plath’s Manuscript, Reinstating Her Original Selection and Arrangement. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005.Charles Reznikoff, Holocaust. Black Sparrow Press, 2007.William Shakespeare, Complete Works.Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. (1976). Scribner, 2010.May Swenson, New & Selected Things Taking Place. Little, Brown & Co., 1978.Walt Whitman, Complete Poems. Ed. Francis Murphy. Penguin Classics, 2005.Saul Williams, The Dead Emcee Scrolls. MTV Books, 2008.
FALL 2012 E411-01/02 RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN
PAGE THREE OF SIX BEGINNING POETRY WORKSHOP FALL 2012
While a high standard of attention, preparation, and execution is expected in all assigned work, my priorities in evaluation will be: thoughtfulness, intelligence, purposefulness, audience awareness, experimentation, and consciousness of poetic traditions and conventions. I will provide brief written feedback on weekly poems, substantial written feedback on workshop poems, and a written evaluation before Thanksgiving, at the time of our one-on-one meeting if possible. When assessing your final grade, I will also consider your self-evaluation.
Support
You are very welcome to consult with me about your writing during office hours (T 2-5pm), or by appointment. The Writing Center, CB 240, is a tremendous resource for one-on-one assistance.
If you are a student with a disability that may require accommodations to complete the requirements of this class, I encourage you to discuss your learning needs with me during the first week of the term. Once you submit an approval letter from the Office of Disability Support Services, addressed to me, accommodations will be provided as needed.
Class time
Work by three students will be workshopped each week (approximately 90 minutes). The remaining time will be devoted to close readings, writing, and discussion of the books. While you are writing, I will briefly review your binders / notebooks. Classes will begin on time. There will be one 15-minute break after which class will resume punctually.
Assignments
Every week you will turn in a new poem and annotate the work of 3 peers. You will write five 1-page book papers, for which guidelines will be given. Your semester project is to write and perform/publish a collection of revised poetry.
Policies
You are required to attend all classes punctually and to complete all reading and writing assignments by their due dates. You must inform me regarding absences in advance of the missed class. If this is not possible, you must contact me as soon as possible, before the next class, as a matter of courtesy. You are each important participants in class. Not showing for a workshop for which your work is scheduled affects everyone; it disrupts our work and is very difficult to make up.
In all cases, you are responsible for gathering information about, and completing by the due date, all work assigned during a missed class. If you have an excused absence and are not prepared for the following class, your final grade will be lowered. If absent for medical reasons, you must have a note signed by a doctor or other health professional. All unexcused absences will negatively affect your final grade. RISD’s policy on unexcused absences will be observed: If you have three unexcused absences, you will be dropped from the course. This is non-negotiable.
Poems on paper should be turned in on paper, not emailed. Tardiness, failure to turn in assignments on time, lack of preparation or homework, will result in an unsatisfactory grade at mid-semester and, unless remedied, will negatively affect your final grade.
No laptop or cell phone use in class without specific permission from the instructor.
RISD’s Academic Code of Conduct will be observed.
FALL 2012 E411-01/02 RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN
PAGE FOUR OF SIX BEGINNING POETRY WORKSHOP FALL 2012
sept 12/13 intro close reading--writing homework write a poem a day (7 poems)--print one for class--workshop group 1 brings 15 copies--buy books
sept 19/20 everyone reads new poem homework daily writing (binder)--one finished(printed) poem--workshop group 2 brings 15 copies--I Remember (1-page paper)
sept 26/27 I Remember--discussion of books-- homework daily writing (binder)--one printed / finished poem--Workshop Group 3 brings 15 copies--I Remember
Schedule 1 of 2
The Red Wheelbarrow
so much depends upon
a red wheel barrow
glazed with rain water
beside the white chickens
William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
oct 3/4 I Remember--schedule one-on-one meetings homework daily writing (binder)--one finished/printed poem--workshop group 4 brings 15 copies--Lunch Poems 1-page paper
oct 10/11 Lunch Poems--informal presentations of self-selected books homework daily writing (binder)--one finished/printed poem--workshop group 5 brings 15 copies--Lunch Poems
oct 17/18 Lunch Poems homework daily writing (binder)--one finished/printed poem--workshop group 1 brings 15 copies--Nets 1-page paper
BEGINNING POETRY WORKSHOP FALL 2012 RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN
Upon Julia’s Clothes
Whenas in silks my Julia goes, Then, then, methinks, how sweetly flows That liquefaction of her clothes.
Next, when I cast mine eyes and see That brave vibration each way free, O how that glittering taketh me!
Robert Herrick (1591-1674)
from Elisabeth S. C
lark, Betw
een Words, 2007
Poetry
I, too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond all this fiddle. Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in it, after all, a place for the genuine.
Marianne Moore (1887-1972)
couscous@as220, tues 9/25, 9.30-11pm free!
sound
subject
Schedule 2 of 2
FALL 2012 E411-01/02 BEGINNING POETRY WORKSHOP RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN
Spring and Fall
Márgarét, áre you gríeving Over Goldengrove unleaving? Leáves, líke the things of man, you With your fresh thoughts care for, can you? Ah! ás the heart grows older It will come to such sights colder By and by, nor spare a sigh Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie; And yet you will weep and know why. Now no matter, child, the name: Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same. Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed What heart heard of, ghost guessed: It ís the blight man was born for, It is Margaret you mourn for.
William
Blake (1757-1827)
The Fall
There was a man who found two leaves and came indoors holding them out saying to his parents that he was a tree.
To which they said then go into the yard and do not grow in the livingroom as your roots may ruin the carpet.
He said I was fooling I am not a tree and he dropped his leaves.
But his parents said look it is fall.
oct 24/25 Nets homework daily writing (binder)--finished/printed poem--workshop group 2 brings 15 copies--Nets
oct 31/nov 1 Nets homework daily writing (binder)--one finished/printed poem--workshop group 3 brings 15 poems--Tender Buttons 1-page paper
nov 7/8 Tender Buttons homework daily writing (binder)--two revised poems--workshop group 4 brings 15 copies--Tender Buttons
Eugen Gomringer, 1954
nov 14/15 Tender Buttons--workshop homework daily writing (binder)--two revised poems-- workshop group 5 brings 15 copies--self-selected book 1 page paper
From a Book of Hours
Beside a stream a man is reading. he sits against a tree, one knee drawn up as support for his book. Next to him a long slender pole is propped; a line dangles into the water. The open pages of the book show an illustrated, gilded scane: a tiny figure by a stream, fields giving on to a town beyond. In the fields, men and women bend over curved bundles of wheat. Their scythes make dark punctuations of the harvest. The man smiles, as if pleased with what he sees. then he yawns and looks over at the pole. He shifts his gaze a bit and considers the prospect of the town in the distance: the familiar spires and gables. he surveys the fields, before returning to the book. A shadowiness comes over the surrounding landscape, as if a cloud were passing in front of the sun. It is the man’s hand, about to turn the page.
nov 28/29 last workshop books-of-choice presentations homework daily writing (binder)--two revised poems
dec 5/6 course review--evaluations--performance--final portfolio (chapbook, 5 papers, self-evaluation) due wed dec 12, 12pm, cb 528
