ENG 316 Creative Writing: Poetry
Spring 2007
Instructor: Barbara Drake, Professor of English
Melrose 213, Linfield College
503-883-2288  bdrake@linfield.edu

Texts: 

• Writing Poetry, 2nd edition.  Barbara Drake.  Since the book is widely used, you will probably be able to find used copies, but be sure you have the second edition (1994) as it has been revised considerably and has more material than the first.    
• You should also choose one book from a list of suggested poets to study in depth, on your own.  You will be asked to write a discussion of the poet’s work as represented in the book and to present the written summary to the class. I would like everyone to choose a different book so we’ll have a sign up time early in the class. 

The Course: 

• The class will be conducted as an online creative writing workshop.  A workshop means that all work until the revised final versions will be considered in-progress, subject to revision, and that everyone’s work will be up for discussion by the rest of the class. 
• Although I give assignments based on the chapters in the book, you’ll have a lot of freedom in interpreting these assignments.  Make them work for you. 
• The course will be suitable for students who simply want to explore the subject and generally improve their writing and understanding of poetry, and also for those who want an introduction to writing poetry as a serious long term goal.  Be prepared for varying levels of experience with poetry in the discussions and help one another do the best work possible.
• It is important to be familiar with the tradition of poetry.  You will read quite a few poems, both early and modern.  In fact, I hope you’ll be inspired to read more than is required. 
• Serious participation in the online discussion, both in your small group and in the class as a whole, is required. There will be lots of opportunities for discussion and interaction, both in small groups and as a whole class.  Discussion should always be directed at helping people revise and move forward in a supportive but serious way.  Perhaps even more useful than the comments you receive, commenting on the work of others truly will help you learn how to develop and revise your own work. It works both ways.  With that in mind, remember that no one is required to accept suggestions for revision—they are meant to help us all think about the work-in-progress but you each have to decide what is useful to you and what isn’t, which comments to act on and which ones not.  Workshop discussion is meant to help everyone develop his or her own judgment and abilities. 
• To help you start writing and to learn different techniques and tools for writing poetry, I will ask you to try a variety of writing exercises and to keep a practice journal on your own.  We will look at some of the writing exercises in class but the journal will be for your own private use.  I know that it’s often hard to make time to write but try to write something every day, at the very least some notes about ideas or random thoughts.
• In other words, we will read, write, discuss, write, revise, write.  Hope that sounds good to you.

Discussion, conferences, lectures: 

• A lot of the class dialogue will involve everyone.  I will make comments on your work in the general class discussion as I would in a regular workshop class.   These comments will be available to everyone in the class because when I make comments on one person’s work I want everyone to read the comments and learn from them.  In other words, don’t assume comments about another student’s work aren’t relevant to you.  When I use one person’s work to make a point that applies to the whole class, I want to know that you will all read my responses to everyone’s work in the large group.
• However, I will also be able to address each of you privately—if you have a question or want to discuss a specific problem privately, just let me know.  The WebCT structure allows for private emails as well as group discussion.  If you prefer to call or to come to campus to talk with me about your work, that’s also possible.  My office and phone number appear at the top of the syllabus.    
• In addition to the general discussion, each of you will be assigned to a small discussion group.  Those groups will be open only to the members of the group and to me.  I will read the small group discussions to see how things are going and to make sure everyone is taking part, but I will not usually comment in them.  The members of each discussion group need to take ownership and responsibility for how those groups work. 
• Discussion of the reading will be posted as a list. 
• Finally, each week I will post a letter to the whole class.  This will serve the purpose of a short lecture, as it would be given in an on-site class.  I will use the letter to point out things you need to notice as we’re going along, to discuss matters of craft pertinent to the week’s work, and to respond to things that come up as the class develops. 

Due dates and schedules: 

• Weekly writing assignments and reading assigned for the week should be completed by Mondays at noon unless otherwise specified.  Discussion of the reading and writing assignments should normally take place between Monday and the following Friday. 
• If you are going to be out of town or there is some other reason you cannot submit work on a particular date, please let me know so that I can work with you to catch up.  The best option would be to look ahead and complete the work ahead of time unless that is just not possible.  If you miss work, make every effort to catch up quickly.  Because this is a writing workshop, not an independent study, everyone needs to be on the same schedule, week by week.  This is important.  Staying on schedule will help me work with you smoothly and efficiently.

Grades and requirements:

• It is an almost universal practice not to grade individual assignments in college creative writing workshops.  All writing until the final revisions is regarded as work in progress and grades can be an impediment to risking new subjects and techniques. 
• This is how it will work. Everyone who fulfills basic requirements, i.e. completes writing assignments on time, keeps up with the reading schedule, contributes to the class discussion both in the whole class and small group discussions, gives thoughtful feedback to others in the class and especially in their group, and completes the final revisions, will get at least a B.  Those who show either exceptional effort or exceptional quality of work (writing, discussion, final revision), will get higher than a B. Those who are lacking in any part of these requirements will get less than a B. I don’t mind giving high grades but they must be truly earned.  Feel free to ask me about your standing at any time during the semester. 

Getting ideas for poems:

• Each chapter in the textbook gives ideas for exercises and topics.  Trying these will also give you ideas for poems, often ones you might not have thought of otherwise.  I hope you’ll try more of the exercises than you will be required to turn in for the class.
• Be open to ideas when they come to you.  Whenever and wherever you are, keep a pen and notebook handy to write down ideas.  When we are looking for material for poems, what we call ideas aren’t necessarily ideas for whole poems and we may not even know what they mean to us until later.  Ideas can be notes about things that get your attention: the mental conversation you hold with someone who isn’t there; memories or associations that come into your mind momentarily; impressions from dreams a minute after you wake up; startling bits of factual information you would like to work into a piece of writing; things you have read; descriptions of things you see or remember.  In other words, ideas for poems naturally come from the things, past or present, that get your attention in the course of any ordinary day.  They can range from a scientist’s definition of a black hole to a memory of a camping trip when you were five years old, from impressions of a delightful or horrible meal to a description of the weather, from a conversation you overhear in a restaurant and your assumptions about the speakers to a simple description of events on a certain morning.  Poets often begin with random material and only see how it might be used in a poem after they have written it down.  Let your subconscious work for you.  Pay attention to what gets your attention and remember to make notes. 
• Make time to write.  Even when you think you don’t have any ideas, make time for yourself to just sit with a blank piece of a paper and a pen or to sit at your computer with a rough draft file open.  I like to keep a computer file titled “poruffs” that I open and add to from time to time.  Sometimes when I go back and read this file, I find I’ve written something I can turn into a poem, but I don’t demand a lot from this file.  I just use it as a place to turn off the internal editor and see what happens.  Remember, don’t pass judgment on it these free writes as you do them—do use them to help you form the writing habit. 
• Sometimes it’s useful to give yourself a theme for the week and you’ll notice that ideas will accrue to that theme.  What have you been thinking about a lot lately?  That can be your theme, whether it is love, real estate, pets, or shoes.  Whenever you realize the universe has presented you with another thought about the theme for the week (you remember a pair of shoes you had as a child, you hear something about shoes on the radio, someone tells you an anecdote about shoes, you notice the shoes a homeless person is wearing…) make a note of it.  At the end of the week, look for a pattern in your associations.  Compose a poem that somehow uses all these thematically connected ideas.   
• I will add one more suggestion, though it will probably not be useful to everybody.  I sometimes use a hand held tape recorder to save ideas I get while driving.  I don’t recommend multi-tasking while driving and I don’t even use my cell phone while I’m at the wheel, but sometimes while I’m in the car I get ideas I just don’t want to lose.  Spoken language can also have a spontaneity that’s interesting. My tape recorder is small and has controls I can use without looking at them. 

Using the textbook:

• I expect you to read the whole textbook and all of the poems in it.
• I will give specific writing assignments based on the textbook exercises and suggestions for writing, but please don’t feel that you are struggling to do “what the teacher wants.”  Interpret the assignments freely and make them work for you. 
• That said remember that you will not be reading the book the way you would read a text for economics, history, or even a literature class.  Read quickly for what you can use, not as if you are going to be given a true-false test on the material.  Read as a writer. 
• Notice the craft in the poems you read.  Ask yourself, which poems do you like best, which ones entertain or touch you somehow?  Notice how they work.  Besides the subject, notice the voice of the poem, its tone, the kinds of words the poet uses, the overall sound of the language, its rhythms and repetitions.  Does it use rhyme or use other kinds of repetition or does it sound like natural speech?  Notice when the poet uses metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole, or other figurative speech.   Is it the poet speaking, or a persona, or some combination of both?  Is the poem long or short?  Does it have stanza breaks?  Do you see any sort of overall pattern?  Are the lines long or short or all different lengths? 
• When you see what a poet is doing, try it yourself. 
• In your private journal or file, try more of the exercises than we will have time for in class, to see what works for you.  Ideally, try to write something every day.  When it comes time to work on a new poem look back at your notes and ideas to see if something looks promising. 

Writing Assignments:

• Introduce yourself during the first week and practice exercises in chapter 13 on your own.
• 11 weekly poems and miscellaneous exercises
• three style revisions during week #7
• Discussion of a selected book by one poet.
• Final:  Five revised poems and a 1-2 page discussion of your semester’s work

Besides the textbook: 

• I have already mentioned asking you to choose a book of poetry by one poet to read in depth. 
• Poems are published in many magazines and I would strongly encourage you to look for them to see what sort of poems are being published at this time.  The New Yorker is a weekly magazine that uses poems in each issue.  Non-commercial literary magazines also publish many poems and we carry a number of literary magazines such as Northwest Review or the American Poetry Review in the Linfield library, but such magazines may not necessarily be readily available in public libraries.  You are more apt to find literary magazines in college libraries.  One venerable literary magazine that is commonly available is Poetry, so you might look for that at your public library.  Note: it is not a requirement for you to look for extra poetry magazines for the class.  This is simply a recommendation to familiarize yourself with what is being published today. 
• For optional reading, you might want to sign up for the Writer’s Almanac, Garrison Keillor’s free online daily poetry column.  (It is also on NPR daily at 10:00 a.m.)  If you go to the Writer’s Almanac website you will find information about having a poem delivered to your email each day.  Remember, this is not a requirement, but it’s fun to read the daily poem along with short facts about writers at the site and you might find inspiration for a poem of your own. 

The Calendar: 
When an assignment says “Read and discuss” you should not only read the chapter but also look at the study questions that follow the poems to help you prepare your comments on the class list.  You don’t need to hand in answers to these questions but they can help you get ideas for your comments in the discussion.  Complete the reading and discussion between Monday and Friday each week. 

Notice that most of the writing assignments, but not all, refer back to the reading of the previous week

List of poets for single collection reading and writing assignment, due Monday April 30.  Most but not all of these poets are in the textbook.  I would like you to buy or check out a collection by the poet and make yourself thoroughly familiar with it before beginning to write about it.  Type the title, author, and publishing information at the beginning of your review.  Except for Whitman and Dickinson, I have picked Modern or contemporary poets, that is, from the past 100 years.  They are also ones whose collections should be readily available.  Look online if you want more information about the poets before making your choice: