ENG 106.

02: Intro to Poetry

01:00-01:50 MWF
Bryan Bldg. 204
Mercer Bufter

Email: dmbufter@uncg.edu Office Hours: MHRA 3210D 10-11am MWF

Office Phone: 334-5867

Course Description
In this course, we will read poetry and some prose with an eye toward learning effective strategies for understanding
and enjoying verse. We will use prose texts from prominent critics and poets to guide us as we engage with English-
language poetry that will represent a variety of centuries, social perspectives and individual voices. In comparing
poems, we will pay especial attention to poems that “talk” to one another and to the tradition. Our concern will be
versions of the classics, the love poem, the elegy, and so on.

Our first goal as readers will be first to notice what is being said in a poem, then to analyze how the poet speaks. We
will examine poems that have similar goals, but achieve them in different ways. We will look at poems’ structures
and gain a vocabulary for discussing poems. We will listen to poets read their own work, and each student will
memorize a single poem of at least ten lines.

Required texts
Hamilton, Sharon. Essential Literary Terms: A Brief Norton Guide with Exercises. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Peoples Education, 2007. ISBN: 0-393-92837-3.
Vendler, Helen. Poems Poets Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology. 2d. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
2002. ISBN: 0-312-25706-6
Supplemental PDFs available on Blackboard

Student learning goals: At the completion of this course, the student will be able to
 Identify and understand varied characteristics of literature;
 Apply techniques of literary analysis to texts;
 Use literary study to develop skills in careful reading and clear writing;
 Demonstrate understanding of the diverse social and historical contexts in which literary texts have been
written and interpreted.

Class Conduct and Preparedness

You should have your textbooks, paper, and writing utensils ready for every class. You are required to print out
hardcopies of poems and other material posted to Blackboard and bring it to class. Making notes in the margins of
your hardcopy is essential to working out your thoughts on a poem, its workings, its goals, etc.

Attendance
Per department policy, students in this course are allowed a maximum of four (4) absences without a grade penalty. I
do not differentiate between “excused” and “unexcused” absences. For every absence beyond four (4), students will
be penalized one-half letter grade. Students who miss eight classes on a three-day schedule will fail the course.

Assignment of Grades
Short Exams (2) 25%
Commonplace Book (including a 25%
variety of short writing and research
assignments. See our class Blackboard
site for details)
Poem Recitation (there will be two 10%
recitation “due dates”)
Final Exam 40%
Academic Integrity
University Policy
“Academic integrity is founded upon and encompasses the following five values: honesty, trust, fairness,
respect, and responsibility. Violations include, for example, cheating, plagiarism, misuse of academic
resources, falsification, and facilitating academic dishonesty. If knowledge is to be gained and properly
evaluated, it must be pursued under conditions free from dishonesty. Deceit and misrepresentations are
incompatible with the fundamental activity of this academic institution and shall not be tolerated” (from
UNCG’s Academic Integrity Policy). To ensure that you understand the university’s policy on academic
integrity, review the guidelines and list of violations at <http://academicintegrity.uncg.edu>. I expect you to
abide by the Academic Integrity Policy.

Sanctions
Sanctions for violations of the academic integrity policy will vary depending on the severity of the
violation, per instructor discretion. Sanctions may include, but are not limited to, failure (a grade of “F”) of
an assignment, failure of an examination, or failure of the course. Faculty have discretion in assigning any
grade-related sanction. When a student is found responsible of a first violation, whether by accepting
responsibility during the Faculty-Student Conference, or through the panel process, the faculty member
makes the final decision about any grade related sanctions. Additional sanctions, including suspension or
expulsion, may only be assigned by a hearing panel. See the recommended sanctions in the “Information
for Instructors: Campus Resources and University Policies” (p. 11).

The Office of Disability Services

Students with documentation of special needs should arrange to see me about accommodations as soon as possible.
If you believe you could benefit from such accommodations, you must first register with the Office of Disability
Services on campus before such accommodations can be made. The office is located on the second floor of the
Elliott University Center (EUC) in Suite 215, and the office is open 8am to 5pm, Monday - Friday. Telephone: 334-
5440; e-mail: ods@uncg.edu.

The Writing Center

The purpose of the Writing Center is to enhance the confidence and competence of student writers by providing free,
individual assistance at any stage of any writing project. Staff consultants are experienced writers and alert readers,
prepared to offer feedback and suggestions on drafts of papers, help students find answers to their questions about
writing, and provide one-on-one instruction as needed. The Writing Center is located in the Moore Humanities and
Research Building (MHRA) room 3211.

The Learning Assistance Center

The Learning Assistance Center offers free services to the entire UNCG undergraduate community and is located in
McIver Hall, rooms 101-104, and 150. For help with study skills, contact Erin Farrior, Academic Skills specialist.
Telephone: 334-3878; e-mail: lac@uncg.edu.

Communication
I will make every effort to respond to e-mail messages within forty-eight hours. If I have not replied to your message
after forty-eight hours, then please re-send the message. Emails should be thoughtfully composed and appropriate.
No blank subject lines or fragmented demands, please.

Late and Incomplete Work

I will not accept late work. I do not accept work via email. If you know you are going to come into conflict with a
due date, you should contact me ahead of time and propose a solution.

Link to Academic Calendars: http://www.uncg.edu/reg/Calendar/index.html

This syllabus and course calendar is subject to change. I will notify you of any changes via email and
Blackboard.
 Course Calendar
ELT—Essential Literary Terms by Sharon Hamilton
HV—Poems Poets Poetry by Helen Vendler
PDF—Blackboard
M: n/a
W 1/20: Intro to Course—MacLeish “Ars Poetica” (522); Moore “Poetry” (541-543); Handout: How to
Read Poems; Handout: Auden’s Survey for Critics
F 1/22: HV Ch.3; ELT 210-215; Ex. 1 due

M 1/25: HV Ch.3; Borges “The Riddle of Poetry” (PDF); Last day to Add/drop
W 1/27: HV Ch.4 Classifying Lyric Poems (107-116)
F 1/29: HV Ch.4 Outer and Inner Form (117-120)

M 2/1: HV Appendix on Prosody; ELT 202-210

W 2/3: Coleridge “Kubla Khan” (HV 258); Prose intro to “Kubla Khan” (PDF)
F 2/5: HV Ch.4 Person, Agency, Tense, Image (120-125); Ex. 2 due

M 2/8: HV Ch.4 Person, Agency, Tense, Image; ELT 83-97

W 2/10: HV Ch.4 Exploring Poems: Keats; Chapman from Odyssey (PDF)
F 2/12: Exploring Poems: Keats; Keats from Letters (PDF); Ex. 3 due

M 2/15: Short Exam 1

W 2/17: HV Ch.1 “The Poem as Life”
F 2/19: HV Ch.2 “The Private Life”; Brooks “The Bean Eaters” (402); Ex. 4 due

M 2/22: HV Ch.2 “The Private Life”

W 2/24: HV Ch.2 “The Public Life”
F 2/26: Making Connections; Ex. 5 due

M 3/1: HV Ch.5 “The Play of Language”; Six week progress report 3/2
W 3/3: HV Ch.5 “The Play of Language”; Eliot “The Music of Poetry” (PDF)
F 3/5: Short Exam 2; Students in Recitation Group 1 must have completed their recitation by this date

3/8-3/12: SPRING BREAK

M 3/15: “Anglo-Saxon Attitudes” Fry; from “Beowulf”; Pound “The Seafarer,” Richard Wilbur “Junk”; Last
Day to Drop 3/16
W 3/17: Hopkins’ Prose (PDF); Hopkins “Spring and Fall” (185), “No worst, there is none” (501), “The
Windhover” (501)
F 3/19: Dylan Thomas “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower” (PDF), “In My Craft or Sullen
Art” (622); Ex. 6 due

M 3/22: Versions of the classics: Auden “Musee des Beaux Arts” (373), W.C. Williams “Landscape with the
Fall of Icarus” (639); optional Warner “Daedalus and Icarus” (PDF)
W 3/24: Versions of the classics: Olds “The Ferryer” (PDF), Simic “Charon’s Cosmology” (587),
Rukeyser “Minotaur” (PDF), Yeats “Leda and the Swan” (654); optional: Warner “The Judgment of
Paris,” “Helen” (PDF)
F 3/26: Introduction to Haiku and Tanka; Pound “In a Station of the Metro” (562); Rexroth “The Love-songs of
Marichiko” (PDF)

M 3/29: Li Po trans. Sze “The Song of Ch’ang-kan” (PDF); Pound “The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter”
(PDF), Wright “Before a Cashier’s Window in a Department Store” (PDF)
W 3/31: Research Project due; Making Connections
F 4/2: No class: Spring Holiday
M 4/5: Versions of Elegy: Harper “We Assume” (493), Jonson “On His First Son” (16), Catullus
“101” (PDF)
W 4/7: Versions of Elegy: Larkin “Home is so Sad” (PDF), Keats “This Living Hand” (508), Doty “Tiara”
(PDF)
F 4/9: Versions of the City: Lorca “from Poet in New York” (PDF); Blake “London” (88); Hughes
“Harlem” (503); O’Hara “Personism” (PDF); Ex. 7 due

M 4/12: Versions of Family: Hayden “Those Winter Sundays” (20), Komunyakaa “My Father’s
Loveletters” (511), Bishop “In the Waiting Room” (PDF)
W 4/14: Versions of Family: Plath “Metaphors” (124), “Morning Song” (558), Kees “After the Trial” (PDF),
Murray “The Mitchells” (PDF)
F 4/16: Versions of an Image: Marvell “The Mower’s Song” (528), from “Upon Appleton House” (PDF), Frost
“Mowing” (PDF), Toomer “Reapers” (PDF)

M 4/19: Forms: Sonnet. Shakespeare “Sonnet 73” (PDF), Herbert “Redemption” (498), Frost “Acquainted with
the Night” (PDF), “Desert Places” (PDF); ELT 231-234
W 4/21: Walcott “Sea Grapes” (PDF), from Omeros (PDF), Yeats “Sailing to Byzantium” (655)
F 4/23: Dickinson (455-459)

M 4/26: Eliot The Waste Land: “The Burial of the Dead,” “Death By Water” (PDF); Baudelaire “To the Reader”
trans Lowell (PDF); ELT 74-78 “Allusion and Analogy”
W 4/28: Stevens “Of Mere Being” (PDF), “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” (172), “On The Emperor of Ice Cream”
(PDF), “Anecdote of the Jar” (267), Strand “Keeping Things Whole” (614)
F 4/30: Making Connections; Ex. 8 due; Commonplace Books due; Students in Recitation Group 2 must
have completed their recitation by this date.

M 5/3: Exam Review

T: 5/4 Exam Review. Last day of classes. We meet at the usual time.

Final Exam: Monday, May 10 3:30–6:30 P.M.

This syllabus and course calendar is subject to change. I will notify you of any changes via email and
Blackboard.