ENGL 131: Introduction to Poetry Writing
| Course Home Page | Blackboard | Instructor's E-mail |
|---|---|---|
| Course Description | Text | Poetry Workshops |
| Grading and Evaluation | Instructor Responsibilities | Deadlines and Late Policies |
| Honor Code | Course Mechanics | Schedule |
Course Description
ENGL 131 is an introduction to poetry writing. In this course, we will immerse ourselves in the writing and reading of poetry in order to become more knowledgeable, skilled, and confident writers of poetry.
This course will be run workshop-style. More than half of your time will be spent writing poems and giving feedback to others’ work on the discussion forum, helping you to become a more effective writer and editor of your own work. You will be divided into groups of three to four students for this purpose. Since there is no writing poetry without reading poetry, the balance of your time will be spent studying various formal techniques and writing responses to reading assignments from The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th edition. These non-poetry written assignments will be read and responded to by your instructor. They are fairly informal short essays—think of them as letters to your instructor about your engagement with the reading—but they should be mechanically clean and well written.
In the last week of the course, you will submit a short manuscript of eight to ten of your own poems. These poems should be revised versions of the poems you’ve written as lesson assignments. You will, of course, receive plenty of feedback from other workshop members and your instructor to help you with these revisions. If you keep up with your revisions throughout the course, you will have a strong and polished manuscript ready.
Please read the policies and guidelines on this course home page carefully, and contact me with any questions.
Text
The required text is Ferguson, Salter, and Stallworthy (eds), The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th edition (2005).
A note on alternate editions: You may work from an earlier edition of the anthology if you wish, but be warned that the earlier editions may not contain all the same material or page numbers as the 5th edition; it is your responsibility to make sure you have the correct materials in front of you when you are working.
The Poetry Workshops
This semester, we will hold Poetry Workshops via two online media: Blackboard discussion forums and the virtual environment Second Life. You will need a fast Internet connection in order to use Second Life. Although we will not meet on Second Life formally until the third week of class, I highly recommend that you get a Second Life free account now, and practice using it, because this application is complex and may take some troubleshooting.
Grading and Evaluation
The grading for this course breaks down as follows:
- Written Assignments (40 percent). Ten short non-poetry assignments (generally two to three pages) will be graded for on-time submission, evidence of effort, and thoughtful engagement with the writing prompts and the reading. They should be double-spaced, formatted with margins no greater than 1.25" and in a 10- or 12-point font, well organized, and free of mechanical errors.
- Workshop Participation (20 percent). You will be expected to post poems and respond to others’ poems usefully, thoughtfully, and according to class deadlines. See Poetry Workshop Evaluation for details on what I expect and how I will grade your workshop participation.
- Poetry Portfolio (40 percent). Your poetry portfolio will be graded as a whole at the end of the course. It will consist of twelve to fourteen poems that you have written for this course and will be graded for completeness, evidence of effort, and, especially, evidence of revision (whether in response to workshop comments or not).
There is no final exam in this course. Your portfolio serves as a final assessment.
Instructor Responsibilities
Your instructor has some responsibilities to you as well. I will:
- Provide clear lessons and assignments each week, and make myself available via e-mail to answer any questions you might have.
- Respond to any e-mails within twenty-four hours (usually sooner) unless I have given prior notice of my unavailability and alternate methods of getting in touch with me.
- Maintain a discussion forum and workshop that are respectful, supportive, and useful.
- Deliver my own thoughtful comments on your work by the Monday after your poems are posted (if they are posted by the Thursday deadlines).
- Remain available to discuss any questions or concerns about grading or my comments on and responses to your work.
- Provide a resource to answer any questions you might have about publication, submitting poetry to journals and contests, putting together a manuscript, or any other poetry-related issues.
- Recommend additional readings and support on subjects of particular interest to you, if requested.
Deadlines and Late Policies
Our weeks generally run from Monday through Sunday. (I will let you know about any adjustments.) The deadlines are as follows:
- Each week’s written assignment (non-poetry) is due on Wednesday.
- Each week’s poem is due on Thursday.
- Written responses to your group members’ workshop poems are due on Sunday.
- You will receive your instructor’s comments on your poems, if they are submitted by the deadline, by Monday.
- Late written assignments will be deducted one third of a letter grade as soon as they are late, and then another one third every twenty-four hours thereafter.
So, each week do the following (deadlines are in bold):
- Monday: Read the lesson and begin your assignments.
- Wednesday: Post your written assignment.
- Thursday: Post your poem.
- Friday: Check the forums. Read your group members’ poems and post your responses.
- Saturday: Check the forums. Read your group members’ poems and post your responses.
- Sunday: Post your responses to your group members’ poems.
- Monday: Receive your instructor’s responses to your work. Begin the next lesson.
You can count on workshop feedback only if you submit your poem on time. (Some group members may provide feedback to late work out of kindness, but don’t assume that you will receive it.) I will provide feedback for late poems after I have taken care of poems submitted on time.
Other important policies:
- Repeatedly missing deadlines will negatively affect your grade.
- Extensions on written assignments may be granted if requested twenty-four hours ahead of time.
- Final portfolios will not be accepted late.
Honor Code
Remember that as a student of UNC-Chapel Hill, you are bound by the University's Honor Code: “It shall be the responsibility of every student at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to obey and support the enforcement of the Honor Code, which prohibits lying, cheating, or stealing when these actions involve academic processes or University students or academic personnel acting in an official capacity.” An especially serious Honor Code violation is plagiarism. See the Writing Center's handout on this topic.
Course Mechanics
Blackboard
Some of your class components (discussion forums, announcements, the class listserv) are accessed through a software package called Blackboard, and you will need to log in to Blackboard using a unique identifier known as your UNC Onyen (Only Name You'll Ever Need) and Onyen password.
There is a link to the Blackboard site in the gray navigation bar at the top of every page in this course. Click on that link, and then use your Onyen to log in to Blackboard. Click on the ENGL 131 link, and you will see navigation buttons on the left side of the screen labeled Announcements, Discussion Forum, and so on.
If you experience problems accessing Blackboard, this is what you should do:
- If you do not already have a UNC Onyen, go to the Onyen Web site and follow the instructions for creating an Onyen.
- If you have an Onyen but have forgotten it (or the password), go to the Onyen Web site.
- If you have your Onyen but can't log in to Blackboard, contact Janice Durham or Donnyell Batts at the Friday Center.
- If you can log in to Blackboard but can't find this course listed, contact Janice Durham or Donnyell Batts at the Friday Center.
- If you can't locate a forum in Blackboard, contact the Instructional Designer at the Friday Center.
- If you have technical problems while using Blackboard, contact Blackboard Help (use the Help button in Blackboard, or call 919-962-HELP).
Using E-mail
All communication from your instructor will go to your UNC Onyen e-mail address (the one that appears when you post to the discussion forum). Off-campus users can access their UNC e-mail using Webmail. You can have your e-mail forwarded to a different e-mail address by clicking “Forward e-mail” at the Onyen Web site.
If you use a filter on your e-mail account, you are responsible for ensuring that it does not prevent you from receiving messages from your instructor, the course listserv, or Friday Center staff.
Hotmail users should be aware that Hotmail will block messages sent from within Blackboard because Blackboard uses “blind carbon copy” to protect privacy. We recommend that you use your UNC Onyen e-mail account for this course.
It is extremely important for you to save copies of any messages you send to your instructor via e-mail. If your instructor doesn't receive your message, you must have a copy of the e-mail (with any attached file), indicating the date sent, to prove that you sent the message. It is your responsibility to maintain copies of your sent e-mails, as there is no way to guarantee that any e-mail message will be delivered. Please check your e-mail software to see how it manages sent and saved messages. Some software automatically deletes messages one month after they have been sent; others only save messages if they are filed in folders; others save messages received but not those sent. You may need to send yourself a copy of your e-mailed assignment at the same time you send it to your instructor, or you may need to print a copy of the e-mail message and any attachments to keep in your paper files. No matter how your system works, make sure you know how to save copies of all messages that you send to your instructor and that you save the copies for several months beyond the end of the course.
Library Services
Students enrolled in Carolina Courses Online can access online library resources from the UNC Library System by linking to Library Services for Distance Education Students. The UNC library staff is available to assist any students who have difficulties accessing online library resources. If you encounter difficulties, please report your problem by visiting this Web page for reporting a problem.
Other Questions
Contact your instructor with questions regarding the content of the course and your progress. (There is an e-mail link at the top of every lesson page.) Please include “CCO ENGL 131” in the subject line of your e-mail.
Contact the Instructional Designer at the Friday Center about problems with this Web site, including bad links.
If you have any logistical questions as you work through the course (enrollment, Onyen, credits, withdrawal, and so on), contact the Student Services staff at the Friday Center for Continuing Education (phone 919-962-1134 or 800-862-5669).
Schedule
Click on the link for each lesson to view my lectures and your assignments.
| Lesson 1 | Welcome to the Workshop |
| Lesson 2 | The Poetic Line |
| Lesson 3 | Voice: Tone, Diction, and Beyond |
| Lesson 4 | Sound |
| Lesson 5 | The Image |
| Lesson 6 | Describing an Object |
| Lesson 7 | Basic Prosody: Rhythm, Rhyme, and Meter |
| Lesson 8 | Basic Prosody: Iambic Pentameter and Blank Verse |
| Lesson 9 | The Villanelle and Sestina |
| Lesson 10 | Free Verse and Open Forms |
| Lesson 11 | Confessional Poetry |
| Lesson 12 | Experimental Forms |
| Lesson 13 | Your Time |
| Lesson 14 | Your Portfolio |