Module ENGL2641: Poetry and Poetics

Department: English Studies

ENGL2641: Poetry and Poetics

Prerequisites

• Any Single or Joint Honours finalist student wishing to take this Special Topic module must have satisfactorily completed the required number of core modules. Combined Honours and Outside Honours students must have satisfactorily completed either two Level 1 core introductory modules, or at least one Level 1 core module and one further lecture based module in English at Level 2.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To study the work of poetry and poetics and to combine an understanding of the theory and practice of poetry.
• To understand the relation between critical and creative writing.

Content

• This module will focus on the theory and criticism of poetry, including close reading and the writing of poetry.
• Seminars will foreground work that theorizes or criticizes poetry as well as poetic texts.
• A close examination of the poetry will help students to understand the relation between reading and writing, theory and practice.
• We shall see how poems are made and how they are conceived, received and made part of culture and literature theoretically and practically.
• The syllabus may vary from year to year, and is subject to availability of texts, but is likely to be drawn from the following. We shall look at critical and theoretical works on poetry, poetics and related topics from Plato through Sidney to Margaret Atwood and others as well as explore poetry about poetry, art and associated subjects from Chaucer through Keats to Rebecca Elson and beyond.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will be expected to:
• Gain knowledge of selected poets and their writing and reading of poetry and how others examine their work.
• Gain knowledge of creative writing and the making of poetry.

• Students studying this module will develop:
• Skills in creative writing, especially in poetry
• Critical skills in the close reading and analysis of texts
• An ability to demonstrate knowledge of a range of texts and critical approaches
• An ability to make connections between poets
• Awareness of formal and aesthetic dimensions of literature and analysis of specific texts
• Knowledge of genre, literary conventions and of language
• An ability to articulate and substantiate an imaginative response to literature
• An ability to articulate knowledge and understanding of concepts and theories relating to literary studies
• Command of a broad range of vocabulary and an appropriate critical terminology
• Awareness of literature as a medium through which values are affirmed and debated

• Students studying this module will develop:
• Practice of writing poetry and understanding its relation to poetics
• A capacity to analyse critically
• Skills of effective communication and argument
• An ability to acquire complex information of diverse kinds in a structured and systematic way involving the use of distinctive interpretative skills derived from the subject
• Competence in the planning and execution of essays
• Awareness of conventions of scholarly presentation, and bibliographical skills including accurate citation of sources and consistent use of scholarly conventions of presentation
• A capacity for independent thought and judgement, and ability to assess the critical ideas of others
• Skills in critical reasoning
• An ability to handle information and argument in a critical manner
• Information-technology skills such as word-processing and electronic data access information
• Organisation and time-management skills

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Seminars: encourage peer-group discussion, enable students to develop critical skills in the close reading and analysis of texts, and skills of effective communication and presentation; promote awareness of diversity of interpretation and methodology
• Consultation session: encourages students to reflect critically and independently on their work
• Independent but directed reading in preparation for seminars provides opportunity for students to enrich subject-specific knowledge and enhances their ability to develop appropriate subject-specific skills.
• Typically, directed learning may include assigning student(s) an issue, theme or topic that can be independently or collectively explored within a framework and/or with additional materials provided by the tutor. This may function as preparatory work for presenting their ideas or findings (sometimes electronically) to their peers and tutor in the context of a seminar.
• Coursework: tests the student's ability to argue, respond and interpret, and to demonstrate subject-specific knowledge and skills such as appreciation of the power of imagination in literary creation and the close reading and analysis of texts; they also test the ability to present word-processed work, observing scholarly conventions. In individual Special Topics, the essay may, where appropriate to the subject, take an alternative form, such as 'creative criticism'.
• The student can produce a small portfolio of poetry, which will help to produce a body of work in preparation for the second essay.
• Feedback: The written feedback that is provided after the first assessed essay allows students to reflect on examiners' comments, giving students the opportunity to improve their work for the second essay.
• The second essay can be an essay that includes the student’s poetry and an analysis of how it expresses the student’s poetics in the larger context of poetics as discussed in the course.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Before the first essay, students will have an individual consultation in which they will receive feedback on their essay plan.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University