Schedule

Class Activities

• Course Introduction: Post-45–American Poetry Before and After: Modern vs. Contemporary
• In our first class, we will examine a set of poems and performances that will encourage us to articulate some key distinctions between modernist and post-modernist (or “contemporary”) poetics more clearly. In a second group activity, we will chart out some of the extremes of contemporary American poetry itself.

PROSE:

• How to Read a Poem (Prof. VZ)
• Introductions to Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 of the Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry (Third Edition), ed. Jahan Ramazani, Richard Ellman, and Robert O’Clair

GOUP ACTIVITY 1: Modern vs. Contemporary. The poems below highlight some key differences between modern (or modernist) poetry and post-WWII poetry. Take any pairing below and, using ideas in the two introductions by Ramazani linked above, describe what makes each poem representative of its era. Feel free to look up additional information on these authors if that will help.

• • Kenneth Goldsmith at the White House: Whitman, Crane, Traffic
  • Pound vs. Wright
  • Eliot vs. Ashbery
  • Hughes vs. Brooks
  • Stein (red hat) vs. Mullens (scroll to selections from Trimmings)

GROUP ACTIVITY 2: Mapping the Extremes–Varieties of the Contemporary. Take any pairing below and describe what makes the poems–even though the generally share key themes–so remarkably different in terms of tonality, form, sense of self, relationship to culture, and whatever other distinct you might find helpful.

• Robert Creeley: “I Know a Man“
• William Stafford: “Traveling Through the Dark”
  —
• Gwendolyn Brooks: “The Rites for Cousin Vit“
• Morgan Parker: “Let Me Handle My Business, Damn”
  —
• James Wright: “Saint Judas“
• James Tate: “Goodtime Jesus“

Poetry Resource: PennSound

• Critical Introduction:
  • Osborne, John. “The Beats.” A Companion to Twentieth Century Poetry, edited by Neil Roberts, Blackwell, 2001, pp. 183-196
  • Johnson, Ronna. “Three Generations of Beat Poets.” Cambridge Companion to American Poetry Since 1945, edited by Jennifer Ashton 2013, Oxford UP, pp. 80-94
• Historical Poetics:
  • Allen Ginsberg, “Notes on Finally Recording Howl“

POETRY

• Allen Ginsberg:
  • “Howl” (CAP 256-266)
  • “A Supermarket in California” (CAP 266)
  • “Sunflower Sutra”
  • “America“
• Bob Kaufman:
  • From Jail Poems (CAP 218)
  • [The Night the Lorca Comes]
  • “bagel shop jazz“
• Gregory Corso:
  • “Marriage” (CAP 388-391)
  • “Bomb” (CAP 391-396)
  • “The American Way“
• Lawrence Ferlinghetti:
  • “Dog“
• Gary Snyder:
  • Riprap (CAP 382-383)
  • “Above Pate Valley“
• Jack Kerouac
  • “The Perfect Love of Mind Essence” (CAP 193)
  • “October in the Railroad Earth” (video)
  • “Charlier Parker” (video)
• Ted Joans
  • “Jazz is My Religion“
• Diane di Prima
  • “The Practice of Magical Evocation” and “Backyard” (selections)
  • “The Quarrel”
• Anne Waldman:
  • “Fast Speaking Woman” (sound file)

ASSIGNMENT DUE–Tuesday, 8/27 by midnight 

• Blog Post 1 (on this week’s readings)
• Reflective Engagement

PROSE

• Critical Introduction:
  • Osborne, John. “Black Mountain and Projective Verse.” A Companion to Twentieth Century Poetry, edited by Neil Roberts, Blackwell, 2001, pp. 168-182
  • Scroggins, Mark. “From the Late Modernism of the ‘Objectivists’ to the Proto-postmodernism of the ‘Projective Verse‘”
• [Optional] Critical Background: The Beats, Black Mountain, and New Modes in American Poetry, edited by Matt Theado (2021). Available online via CofC library–might be a great resource for some “Critical” blog posts.
• Historical Poetics:
  • Charles Olson, “Projective Verse“
  • Robert Creeley, “To Define” and “Form“
  • Denise Levertov, “Some Notes on Organic Form“
  • [optional]: Charleston Olson, “Human Universe“

• From the Archive [optional]: Black Mountain Review

POETRY

• Charles Olson:
  • “Variations Done for Gerald Van De Wiele” (CAP 9-12)
  • “Maximus, To Himself” (CAP13-14)
  • “Cole’s Island” (CAP14-16)
  • [optional] “The Kingfishers“

• Robert Creeley:
  • “I Know a Man” (CAP 274)
  • “The Flower” (CAP 275)
  • “For Love” (CAP 276-77)
  • “I Keep to Myself Such Measures”
  • “The Language“
  • “The Rain“
  • “Age” (CAP 278-280)
  • “When I Think“
• Robert Duncan:
  • “Often I am Permitted to Return to a Meadow” (CAP 149-150)
  • “Passage Over Water“
  • “A Poem Beginning with a Line by Pindar“
• Denise Levertov:
  • “The Ache of Marriage” (CAP 203-204)
  • “Life at War” (210-211)
  • “Everything that Acts is Actual“
  • “Summer 1961“
• Larry Eigner [Selections]
  • “[trees green    the quiet sun],”
  • “Wholes,” [“a temporary language]”
  • “[the sun solid]”
  • “[out of the wind   and leaves]”
  • ”June 19-September 9 90”
• [Optional] See additional poems under the Poetry Foundation overview and selections of Black Mountain poetry

ASSIGNMENT DUE–Tuesday, 9/3 by midnight 

• Blog Post 2 (Tuesday prior to class, on this week’s readings)
• Reflective Engagement

PROSE

• Critical Introduction:
  • Reed, Brian M. “The New York School.”The Cambridge History of American Poetry, edited by Alfred Bendixen and Stephen Burt, 2016, Cambridge UP, pp. 844-868
• Historical Poetics:
  • Frank O’Hara: “Personism: A Manifesto” and his poetics statement from The New American Poetry (1960) (under Readings)
  • Barbara Guest: “A Reason for Poetics” (under Readings)

POETRY

• Frank O’Hara:
  • “A Step Away from Them” (CAP 233-234)
  • “The Day Lady Died” (CAP 234-235)
  • “Why I Am Not a Painter” (CAP 236)
  • “A True Account of Talking to the Sun at Fire Island” (CAP 236)
  • “To You“
  • “Walking“
  • “Personal Poem“
• John Ashbery:
  • “‘They Dream Only of America'” (CAP294-95)
  • “Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape” (CAP 295-96)
  • “Mixed Feelings” (CAP 297)
  • “Paradoxes and Oxymorons” (CAP 304-305)
  • “The Problem of Anxiety” (CAP 305)
  • “These Lacustrine Cities“
  • “Soonest Mended“
  • “The One Thing that can Save America“
  • “Like a Sentence“
• Barbara Guest:
  • “Couch of Space” (CAP 157-158)
  • “Words” (CAP 158)
  • “Passage“
• James Schuyler:
  • “Korean Mums“
  • “February“
• Kenneth Koch:
  • “Permanently“
  • “The Circus“

ASSIGNMENT DUE Tuesday 9/10 by midnight:

• Blog Post 3 (Tuesday prior to class, on this week’s readings)

PROSE:

• Critical Introduction:
  • Nelson, Deborah, “Confessional Poetry.” Cambridge Companion to American Poetry Since 1945, edited by Jennifer Ashton, 2013, Oxford UP, pp. 31-46 (under Readings)
  • Thurston, Michael. “Psychotherapy and Confessional Poetry.” Cambridge Companion to Modern American Poetry, edited by Walter Kalaidjian, 2015, Cambridge UP, pp. 143-154 (under Readings)
  • Bushnell, Kevin. “Leaping Into the Unknown: The Poetics of Robert Bly’s Deep Image” (linked)

• Historical Poetics:
  • Robert Lowell:  Sylvia Plath’s”Arial“

POETRY

• Robert Lowell:
  • “Man and Wife” (CAP 116)
  • “Memories of West Street and Lepke” (CAP 117-18)
  • “Skunk Hour” (CAP 118-120)
  • “For the Union Dead” (CAP 120-122)
• Sylvia Plath:
  • “Daddy” (CAP 413-415)
  • “Lady Lazarus” (CAP 416-417)
  • “Morning Song“
  • “Elm“
• Galway Kinnell:
  • “Another Night in the Ruins“
  • “The Vow” (CAP 315)
• W.D. Snongrass:
  • Mementos, 1
• Anne Sexton:
  • “Her Kind” (CAP 327-28)
  • “The Truth of the Dead Know” (CAP 327)
  • “The Room of My Life” (CAP 331-32)
• John Berryman:
  • excerpts from Dream Songs #1 (CAP 77)
  • excerpts from Dream Songs #14 (CAP 79)
  • excerpts from Dream Songs #40 (CAP 81)
  • excerpts from Dream Songs #76 (CAP 83)
  • excerpts from Dream Songs #384 (CAP 84)
• Sharon Olds:
  • “The Waiting” (CAP 543)
  • “Right of Passage“
• James Wright:
  • “Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio” (CAP 291)
  • “A Blessing” (CAP 291)
  • “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota” (CAP 291).
  • “Beginning“
• Robert Bly
  • “Waking from Sleep“
  • “The Great Society“
  • “An American Dream“

ASSIGNMENT DUE: Tuesday 9/17 by midnight:

• Blog Post 4 (Tuesday prior to class, on this week’s readings)

Tuesday 2/12

PROSE

• Critical Introduction:
  • Shockley, Evie. “The Black Arts Movement and Black Aesthetics.” Cambridge Companion to Modern American Poetry, edited by Walter Kalaidjian, 2015, Cambridge UP, pp. 180-195.
  • Crawford, Margo Natalie.  “The Poetics of Change and Inner/Outer Space: The Black Arts Movement.” Cambridge Companion to American Poetry Since 1945, edited by Jennifer Ashton, 2013, Oxford UP, pp. 94-107.
• Historical Poetics:
  • Larry Neal, “And Shine Swam On,” Afterword to Black Fire
  • James T. Stewart, “The Development of the Black Revolutionary Artist,” from Black Fire
  • Amiri Baraka, “Expressive Language“

POETRY

• Amiri Baraka:
  • “SOS” (CAP 427)
  • “Black Art” (CAP 427-29)
  • “When We’ll Worship Jesus” (CAP 429-432)
  • “As Agony, As Now“
• Carolyn M. Rodgers
  • “How I Got Ovah” (CAP 329-340)
  • “And When the Revolution Came” (530-531)
  • “Mama’s God” (CAP 531)
• Gwendolyn Brooks:
  • “To Those of My Sisters Who Kept Their Naturals” (CAP 142-143)
  • “The Boy Died in My Alley” (CAP 141-142)
  • “We Real Cool” (CAP 135)
  • The Ballad of Rudolph Reed (CAP 135-136)
  • “Malcolm X” (CAP 139-140)
  • “Young Afrikans” (CAP 139)
  • “Boy Breaking Glass“
• Sonia Sanchez (all poems linked here)
  • “homecoming”
  • “Malcolm”
  • “blk / rhetoric”
  • “A poem for my father”
  • “towhomitmayconcern”
• Nicki Giovanni:
  • “The Great Pax Whitie“
  • “Walking Down Park“
  • “Ego Tripping“
• Haki Madhubuti:
  • “Gwendolyn Brooks“
  • “For The Consideration of Poets“
• Dudley Randall:
  • “Ballad of Birmingham” (CAP 88-89)
  • “A Difference Image” (CAP 89)
• Jayne Cortez
  • “I am New York City” (CAP 467-468)
  • “Do You Think” (CAP 468-469)
  • “There It Is“
• Audre Lorde:
  • “A Litany for Survival“
  • “Power“

ASSIGNMENT DUE–Tuesday 9/24 by midnight

• Blog Post 5 (on the readings for this week)

PROSE

• Critical Introduction:
  • Christopher Beach, “The New Criticism and Poetic Formalism,” from the Cambridge Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Poetry (2003)
• Historical Poetics:
  • Dana Gioia, “Notes on the New Formalism,” from The New Expansive Poetry (1999)
  • Annie Finch, “Introduction” to A Formal Feeling Comes:Poems in Form by Contemporary Women (1994).
  • R.S. Gwynn, “Preface” to Rebel Angels: 25 Poets of the New Formalism (1996)

POETRY

• Richard Wilbur
  • “Year’s End”
  • “The Pardon” (CAP 181-182)
  • “A Baroque Wall-Fountain in the Villa Sciarra” (CAP 182-184)
• William Stafford
  • “Traveling Through the Dark” (CAP 86)
• Elizabeth Bishop
  • “Pink Dog” (CAP 29-30)
  • “One Art” (CAP 35)
• Derek Walcott
  • “A Far Cry from Africa” (CAP 368)
• Adrienne Rich
  • “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” (CAP 343)
• Robert Lowell:
  • “Epilogue” (CAP 126)

• Sonia Sanchez
  • Read the poetics statement “Forms and Responsibility,” along with the poems “Haiku” and “Father and Daughter” (LINK)

• Julia Alvarez
  • Read the poetics statement “Housekeeping Cages”, along with the poems “How I Learned to Sweep” and “Sonnet 42” (LINK)

• Molly Peacock
  • “Good Girl“
  • “Anger Sweetened“

• Joan Austin Geier
  • “On Your Twenty-First Birthday“

• Mary Jo Salter
  • “Young Girl Peeling Apples“

• Brad Leithauser
  • “The Haunted“

• Dana Gioia
  • “Summer Storm“

• Rhina P. Espaillat
  • Read the poetics statement “Why I Like to Dance in a Box” and the poem “Metrics” (LINK)

• R.S. Gwynn
  • “Anacreontic“

ASSIGNMENT DUE–Tuesday 10/1 by midnight

• Blog Post 6 on the readings for this week
• Reflective Prompt

PROSE

• Critical Overview:
  • Simon Perrill. “Language Writing.” A Companion to Twentieth Century Poetry, edited by Neil Roberts, Blackwell, 2001, pp. 220-231 (under Readings)
  • McCaffery, Steve. “Language Writing.” Cambridge Companion to American Poetry Since 1945, edited by Jennifer Ashton, 2013, Oxford UP, pp. 143-155
• Historical Poetics:
  • Charles Bernstein, from “Artifice of Absorption” and “Introjective Verse“
  • Lyn Hejinian, “Against Closure“
  • Rae Armantrout, “Why Don’t Women Do Language-Oriented Writing“

POETRY

• Ron Silliman
  • from Ketjak (CAP 571-573)
  • from Sunset Debris (CAP 573-575)
• Bob Perelman”
  • “Chronic Meanings,” “Confession,” “An Autobiography,” “My One Voice,” “God“
• Charles Bernstein
  • “This Line,” “Self Help,” “The Boy Soprano” (CAP 650), “In a Restless World Like This“
• Rae Armantrout
  • “Close,” “Empty,” “Anti-Short Story,” “Tone,” “You Float”

• Michael Palmer
  • “Song of the Round Man” (CAP 559)
  • “All Those Words” (CAP 560)
  • “Autobiography” (CAP 562-563)
  • “Notes for Echo Lake 4“
• Lyn Hejinian
  • from My Life (CAP 535-536)
  • from The Distance (CAP 536-539)

ASSIGNMENT DUE– Tuesday 10/8 by midnight

• Blog Post 7

Final Project Preview: during this class, we will discuss the final project and review deadlines for the various final project components. The instructor will also be available for one-on-once conferences over the next two weeks to discuss ideas for the final project.

PROSE

• Critical Introductions:
  • Muyumba, Walton. “Black and Blues Configurations: Contemporary African American Poetry and Poetics.”The Cambridge History of American Poetry, edited by Alfred Bendixen and Stephen Burt, 2016, Cambridge UP, pp. 1048-1079
  • Coval, Kevin. “Introduction” to The Breakbeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop (2015)

POETRY

• Robert Hayden
  • “Night, Death, Mississippi” (CAP 56-57)
  • “Aunt Jemima of the Ocean Waves” (CAP 57-59)
• Lucille Clifton
  • “I Am Accused of Tending to the Past” (CAP 470-471)
  • “at the cemetery, walnut grove plantation, south carolina, 1989” (471-472)
• Michael S. Harper
  • “Song: I Want a Witness” (CAP 486-87)
  • “Blue Ruth: America” (CAP 487)
  • “American History” (CAP 489)
  • “We Assume: On the Death of Our Son: Reuben Masai Harper” (489-490)
  • “Reuben, Reuben” (CAP 490)
• Yusef Komunyakaa
  • “Tu Do Street” (CAP 618-19)
  • “Facing It” (LINK)
• Harryett Mullen
  • from Trimmings (CAP 696)
  • from S*PeRM**K*T (CAP 687)
• Natasha Tretheway
  • “Native Guard” (CAP 768-772)
• Ross Gay
  • “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude“
  • “Pulled Over…”
• Patricia Smith
  • “Blonde White Woman” (CAP 713-14)
  • “Skinhead” (CAP 715-17)
  • “Man on TV Say” (CAP 717)
• Terrance Hayes
  • “American Sonnet for my Past and Future Assassin [I lock you…]”
  • “American Sonnet for my Past and Future Assassin [Probably Twilight…]”

Selections from the anthology The Breakbeat Poets

• Evie Shockley
  • “duck, duck, redux” and “post-white” (LINK)
• John Murillo
  • “Ode to the Crossfader,” “1989,” & “Renegades of Funk” (LINK)
• Danez Smith
  • “Dinosaurs of the Hood” (LINK), “Alternate Names for Black Boys” & “Tonight in Oakland“
• Steven Willis
  • “Beat Writers” (LINK)

Assignment Due: Tuesday 10/15 by midnight

• Blog Post 8 (on this weeks’ readings).

Final Project Rough Pitches: Each student will briefly (2-4 minutes) discuss their final project ideas.

Critical Introductions:

• Timothy Yu, “Introduction,” from The Cambridge Companion to Twenty-First Century American Poetry (2022)
• Dorothy Wang, “The Future of Poetry Studies,” from The Cambridge Companion to Twenty-First Century American Poetry (2022)

Poetry

• Javier Zamora
  • “Second Attempted Crossing“
• Chen Chen
  • “I’m not a religious person but“
• Ross Gay
  • “Love, I’m Done with You,”  “Sorrow is Not My Name“
• Danez Smith
  • “The 17-Year-Old and the Gay Bar“
• Kaveh Akbar
  • “Against Dying“
• Raena Shirali (CofC Alum)
  • “At Home, In the Empire“
• Morgan Parker
  • “If You Are Over Staying Woke“
• Ruth Madievsky
  • “Electrons“
• Tiana Clark
  • “My Therapist Wants to Know about My Relationship to Work“
• Sam Sax
  • “On Alcohol” “Prayer for the Mutilated World“
• Rupi Kaur
  • Instagram Poet
• Ocean Vuong
  • “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous“
• Maggie Smith
  • “Good Bones“

• Nate Marshall
  • “Palindrome“
• Sabrina Benaim
  • “Explaining my Depression to My Mother“
• Matthew Dickman
  • “In Heaven” and “Slow Dance“
• Danez Smith
  • “acknowledgements“

ASSIGNMENTS DUE

Final Project: First group of four mini-modules introduced. For those going during this first week, please share relevant reading materials with me prior to the class so I can update the schedule.

Please review individual proposals related to these projects before class. Proposals are due Tuesday

Project 1: Dee

Critical Introduction:

• Lance Henson – Leaving Bents Fort
• Linda Hogan – Trail of Tears: Our Removal ; When The Body
• Wendy Rose – Women Like Me ; Turning
• Joy Harjo – How To Write a Poem in Time of War

Project 2: Alice

Critical Introduction

• Adam Gilbert, A Shadow on Our Hearts : Soldier-Poetry, Morality, and the American War in Vietnam

Poetry Selections

• Ocean Vuong, “Aubade with Burning City” 
• Pham Tien Duat: One Hour and Ten Minutes
• Yusef Komunyakaa: Thanks
• Leroy V. Quintana: Poem for Our Dog Afraid of Thunder on a Rainy Day
• Richard Hugo: On Hearing a New Escalation
• W. D. Ehrhart: Letter

• Eve of Destruction
• Goodnight Saigon
• For What It’s Worth
• Feel Like Fixing to Die

Final Project: The second group of four mini-modules introduced. For those going during this first week, please share relevant reading materials with me prior to the class so I can update the schedule. Each mini-module presenter will also post their formal proposal prior to the start of class for comment

Project 1: 

Critical Reading:

Manning, Maria. “Crafting Authenticity: Reality, Storytelling, and Female Self-Representation through Instapoetry.” Storytelling, Self, Society, vol. 16, no. 2, 2020, pp. 263–79

Poetry:

Victoria Hutchins: “natural remedies” & “it’s either gorgeous or devastating”

Hannah Ro:  “Saturday is the friend I want to be” & “To all of the Women I’ve Been Before”

Kati Granger: post 1, post 2

Lauren E. Bowman: “YOU’RE SO PRETTY UNRULY” & “Stretching my back isn’t enough, I need to take out my spine and wring it like a wet towel”

Elise M Powers: “I Do Not Order Two Raw Sugars In My Americano” & “The One Where I Confess I Can’t Do It All”

Project 2: 

Critical Reading:

Elly Bulkin: Kissing / Against the Light: A Look at Lesbian Poetry (1978)

Poetry:

Project 3: 

Critical Reading:

Joyce Johnson, “The Theme of Celebration in Lucille Clifton’s Poetry”

Project 4: 

Critical Reading:

Flash Fiction

Final Project: The final group of four mini-modules introduced. For those going during this first week, please share relevant reading materials with me prior to the class so I can update the schedule. Each mini-module presenter will also post their formal proposal prior to the start of class for comment.

Project 1: Anti-War Poetry

Critical Readings:

• “On Modern Anti-War Literature,” Lawrence Rosenwald, Raritan

Poetry:

• “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner,” Randall Jarrell
• “The Firebombing,” James Dickey-
• “The Objector,” William Stafford-

• “Against the War in Vietnam,” Wendall Barry
• “What were they Like,” Denise Levertov
• “May 1972,” James Schuyler
• “The Asians Dying,” W.S. Merwin

Project 2: Hejinian

Critical Readings:

• Lynn Hejinian, “The Line“
• Lynn Hejinian, “Wild Captioning“
• Optional: Hejinian, “The Sad Not in a Poetics of Consciousness“

Poetry:

• Lynn Hejinian, from “From the Distance” (focus mostly on first part)

Project 3: New York School 

Critical Readings:

• Josh Schneiderman, “The New York School, the Mainstream, and the Avant-Garde” 

Poetry Selections:

• John Ashbery, “What is Poetry?
• Josh Ashbery, “Homeless Heart“
• John Ashbery, “Some Trees“
• James Schuyler, “December 28, 1974“
• James Schuyler, “The Bluet“

Project 4: Feminist Truth, Power, and Desire-at-Large