Literature Curriculum Project Syllabi

Poetry Since 1944: Innovators, Visionaries, Radicalia
Suggested Level for teaching students: Lower Level College Students
University of Denver ENGL 2031 (CRN 3724)

Course Description : In this class, we will examine avant-garde poetry movements of the second half of the 20 th century. Taking a very brief look at the Romantics and Modernists as precursors, we will delve into the Beats, Black Mountain school poets, the San Francisco Renaissance, Black Arts Movement, the New York School, LANGUAGE poets, and beyond. Required Texts: Trilogy by H.D., Howl & Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg, Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara, My Life by Lyn Hejinian, and, time permitting, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely by Claudia Rankine. In addition, there will be a number of handouts, and, if necessary, materials available for photocopying. Required texts are available in the DU bookstore.

“ America demands a poetry that is bold, modern and all-surrounding and kosmical, as she is herself” — Walt Whitman

Teaching Method : Class time will be devoted to discussion of readings as a class and in small groups, reading aloud, listening to archival material of poets reading, and writing.

Course Requirements: This class carries a heavy weekly reading duty. We will be reading five books, as well as a number of shorter works, occasional commentary and essays. It is imperative that you do the required reading each week, so that we may have a collaborative classroom. Following Chicago University’s Shared Inquiry method of literary exploration, only those who have read the texts can participate in class discussion. If, for some reason, you have failed to do the week’s reading, please come to class, but you will be asked to refrain from participating in discussion. Please do not show up at the end of class or skip class because you do not have your assignment prepared (i.e., Come to class!). In class discussions, and in your written assignments, I expect you to engage your full intelligence in approaching the works we read. Those who have worked with me before know that “I love this” or “This sucks” do not constitute interesting responses; we will work toward open-minded, engaged and intelligent thinking as we grapple with these sometimes difficult texts.

Assignments will include the following:

1. I ask that you keep a Reader’sJournal, which will includethe following: your general notes as you read, critical questions (a few questions about the text, the kinds of questions that can’t be answered), one or two quotes from each book with brief response, and one or two observations about the text (again, these must be more interesting than “I love this” or “This sucks”). Sometimes I’ll ask you to respond to a critical question here as well. Bring these with you to each class to fuel discussion. You will turn these in to me (typed) along with your papers at midterm, and, perhaps, at the end of the quarter. (Also, bring all handouts to class, as we may refer back to them.)

2. Two formal papers, one at midterm and one at the end of the term. These can explore an idea in one of the books or can compare and contrast a theme that you see in several of the books and supplementary texts. We will discuss these closer to their due dates. Midterm paper (5-6 pp) due Feb. 6, Final paper (7-10 pp) due March 13.

3. You will be asked to recite a poem from our readings that you have memorized at two points in the quarter (i.e., two different poems or sections of longer poems). Feb. 1 and March 6.

4. One or two poems (and evidence of at least two drafts) that use the techniques of one or more of our authors. Due dates TBA.

Your grade will be based on participation / preparedness each week (25%—which includes attendance, in-class discussion, and recitation), Midterm Paper (25 %), timely completion and quality of work, and improvement (20%), and your final paper (30%).

Attendance Policy : Please come to all classes. Your grade will drop at each unexcused absence (e.g., A to A-). Three unexcused absences could result in an F. Four or more absences of any kind could also result in an F.

Week One : A whirlwind tour of the poetic century’s radical roots. The nineteenth century in a few hours: English Romantics, French Symbolists. The nineteenth century on American soil: Whitman, Dickinson.

Week Two : The beginnings of innovative poetry in the 20 th century: Modernism; Apollinaire’s “Zone”; Begin H.D.’s Trilogy

Week Three : Finish Trilogy

Week Four : 1950s: Howl & Other Poems & the Beats

Using Naropa’s Audio Archives to Teach “Howl”

Although not every poet is the best explicator of their own work, Ginsberg’s talks on the elements and influences that went into the writing of “Howl” are invaluable. I found the following excerpts of those discussions to be incredibly useful to my students, who were thereby able to engage with the poem much more deeply and personally. You will find in these archive selections discussions of Guillaume Apollinaire’s “Zone,” Cubism, Cézanne’s use of color and line to create space, an important dream, haiku and William Carlos Williams, all influences on the construction of “Howl”.

Before beginning “Howl,” we read excerpts from some of Ginsberg’s precursors and influences: Whitman, Apollinaire’s “Zone,” and Williams Carlos Williams’ precise, photographic poems. After reading and studying the poem for two weeks, we closed by listening to the poem in its entirety. I highly recommend using parts of Ginsberg’s own The Annotated Howl, which greatly illuminates the process and history of the poem, in conjunction with these recordings. You may also wish to view, as we did, some of Cézanne’s paintings to explore the optical effects Ginsberg discusses, or to play Steven Taylor’s orchestration of “Footnote to Howl,” created for the 50 year anniversary of the poem, and performed by Julliard students.

First Set of Excerpts:

Ginsberg talks about Apollinaire and Cubism, both influences on his construction and technique in “Howl”

Audio: Allen Ginsberg including clip Aboriginal Poetics
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Ginsberg discusses Cézanne and his “petite sensation de l’espace,” or feeling of space. See “ Pater Omnipotens Aeterna Deus” (Latin for Father Omnipotent Eternal God), related to Cézanne’s notion of space. Also in relation to Cézanne, from the poem: “eyeball kicks” and “vibrating plane”. You may wish to look at Cézanne’s paintings in conjunction with these excerpts.

Audio: Allen Ginsberg including clip Thought and Consciousness
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Audio: Allen Ginsberg including clip Cezanne Feeling of Space
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Audio: Allen Ginsberg including clip Reading Howl
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Second Set of Excerpts:

Reading and discussing two poems, “Dream Record” and “In Back of the Real”, written before “Howl”. “Dream Record” narrates a dream that contributed to Ginsberg’s understanding of “mind gaps,” or leaps across polar opposites, an important technique in “Howl”; “In Back of the Real” illustrates Williams’ influence on Ginsberg, in particular in an attempt to capture a precise, photographic image, another technique important to “Howl”. Also discussed are haiku, metaphor, Aristotle’s apt dissimilars, and Baudelaire.

Audio:Allen Ginsberg including clip Dream Record
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Audio: Allen Ginsberg including clip Mind Space and Time Space
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Audio:Allen Ginsberg including clip Effect of Poetry
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Audio:Allen Ginsberg including clip Murderess Innocence
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Audio:Allen Ginsberg including clip In Back of the Real
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Week Five : More poetic movements of the 1950s: Black Mountain (Olson, Creeley, Levertov), San Francisco Renaissance (Spicer, Duncan)

Feb. 1 : Recitation of a poem or section of a longer poem

Week Six : MIDTERM PAPER DUE, along with READER’S NOTES

The 1950s continue: Lunch Poems & the New York School

(Time permitting, we may look at Robert Lowell and the Confessionalists as counterpoint.)

Week Seven : 1960s: Baraka & The Black Arts Movement

Week Eight : 1980s: My Life & the Language Poets

Week Nine : Finish My Life; begin the 21rst century: Don’t Let Me Be Lonely

Please note: NO CLASS on March 1

Week Ten : Finish Don’t Let Me Be Lonely

March 6 : Recitation of a poem or section of a longer poem

Final Class : FINAL PAPERS DUE— NO EXCEPTIONS + Final discussion Other Recordings

Although I did not play these for my students, I found the New York school panel very useful in preparing my presentation on the New York School and Frank O’Hara. Likewise, Lyn Hejinian’s lecture was great background for gathering thoughts on My Life and the Language Poets. (You may also wish to listen to Robert Creeley’s lecture on the Language Poets.)

A number of students found it particularly illuminating to listen to Alice Notley reading the last 10 minutes of The Descent of Alette, from a 1991 reading. The recording incited a number of term papers on the use of the line, meter, and breath; students were able to understand her use of the variable foot in a way they never could have with just the page.

Endorsement!

These audio archives illuminate the power of the human voice, and its relation to and ability to activate the poetic line. As is true for poets who have been writing, listening to, and studying poetry for years, students new to poetry are able to understand the work of the poet in an intimate, profound way through the physical, vibratory aural of the human voice. From the mouthings, breath, and tone of the poet, we learn things that we would never be able to apprehend on the page alone.

This syllabus is credited to Professor Eleni Sikelianos
University of Denver