492  Poetry     Semester II, 2009

(Images of poets and manuscripts are available to registered students through METU Online)

We will concentrate on the interaction of lexis, rhetoric and meaning in selected Modern English poems, and practice close reading in class.  The classes will comprise introductory lectures or presentations,  detailed study of individual poems, and class discussion about the poem(s). The students will be required to study the poems in advance and to study some of the poems on their own, without detail class analysis and explanation.  There will be a term paper, one mid term exam and a final exam. Attendance is mandatory.

Materials

The poems to be studied are listed on this page (scroll down). Most of the poems can be found in the Norton Anthology of English Literature, volume 2 and on my 'poems' page here.  You should read the poems from the anthology where possible, because the background information and footnotes are invaluable. You are expected to come to class having read the poems set for that week, also the introductory sections about the period and the poets.   

Pictures of poets, manuscripts and many useful articles about the poems are available on the internet.  These are the most famous poets of the era and so materials abound. You are encouraged to enjoy yourself in this wealth of material.

Course outline

There will be one mid-term exam and one paper.  The subject of the paper is: EITHER  ‘Discuss the extent to which Eliot’s The Wasteland demonstrates the arguments of “Tradition and the Individual Talent”.’ OR ‘The meaning or meanings of The Wasteland.’

Grading

Paper 30% (OR  Presentation 10%, Paper 20%)

Mid term 30%

Final 40%

FLE 406 Poems

Hardy:  "Hap", "The Man He Killed"

Hopkins: "The Windhover" (p1548), "Pied Beauty" (p1548)

Yeats: "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" (p1867), "No Second Troy" (p1872), ‘A Coat’ (p1875),  ‘Easter 1916’ (p1878),  ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ (p1883)  ‘The Circus Animal’s Desertion’ (p1893)

Brook: ‘The Soldier’ (p1827)

Sassoon: ‘They’ (p1832), ‘On Passing the New Menin Gate’ (p1834)

Owen: ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ (p1845)

Eliot:   ‘The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock’ (p2140), The Wasteland (p2164), ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ (p2170)

Edith Sitwell:  ‘Trio for Two Cats and a Trombone’ (p2132),

Auden:  ‘In Memory of W. B. Yeats’ (p2267), ‘Musee des Beaux Arts’ (p2266), ‘Lullaby’ (p2266), ‘In praise of Limestone’ (p2269), ‘The Shield of Achilles’ (p2272)

Dylan Thomas:  ‘The Force . . .’ (p2279), ‘Fern Hill’ (p2284) ‘Do Not Go Gentle . . .’ (p2286)

Larkin:  "Church Going" (p2324),  "Ambulances" (p2326),  "High Windows" (p2327), "MCMXIV" (p2325)

Stevie Smith: "Not Waving but Drowning" (p2223), "Thoughts about the Person from Porlock" (read Coleridge's preface to "Kubla Khan" before reading this poem)

Ted Hughes:  "Pike" (p2354), "Wind" (p2353), "Examination at the Womb-Door" (p2355) .

Heaney: "Digging" (p2422),   "The Tollund Man"  (available on www.ibiblio.org/ipa/heaney/tollund.html)

There will be one mid-term exam and one paper.  The subject of the paper is: EITHER  ‘Discuss the extent to which Eliot’s The Wasteland demonstrates the arguments of “Tradition and the Individual Talent”.’ OR ‘The meaning or meanings of The Wasteland.’

Class and office hours

Classes are on Thursdays at 14.40-17.30

Office hours are Mondays at 08.40-11.30

 For  poems and links to other poetry sites, see the poems page