ENGL2881: Poetry by the Book

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• To develop the imagination of how poetry creates meaning and of its affective force by focusing on reading a small selection of volumes of poetry
• To expand students capacity to think about the significance of poetic genre and to conduct close readings of individual poems in terms of prosody, figurative language, etc.
• To consider the significance of the arrangement and/or presentation of poems in a single volume: whether that means considering the poems in relation to one another; in relation to the frontmatter; in relation to manuscript versions; in relation to illustrations; in relation to other editions; and/or in relation to the materiality and history of the book itself

• This module explores the variety of ways in which the book format can help shape our understanding of poetry and in which poetry can help shape our understanding of the book as a material object and a reading technology.
• It combines close reading of poems and an analysis of literary form and genre with an attention to the material context of poems gathered together in a particular book.
• It explores the paratextual matter in poetry bookssuch as title page, prefaces, tables of contents, and sundry frontmatterto consider how these paratexts help shape the significance of specific poems and/or of a book of poems as a whole.
• It incorporates a variety of critical approaches and methodologies, which could include formalism, theories of the book, histories of reading, postcolonial theory, feminist theory, queer theory, critical race theory, and/or lyric theory.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Students will gain a capacity to think imaginatively about how the organisation and presentation of a book of poetry can shape our understanding of the individual poems therein; of a poets conceptual and aesthetic aims and achievements; of a poets thinking about audience and reception; and/or of the relationships between poet, editor, and publisher.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Students studying this module will develop:
• critical skills in the close reading and analysis of texts
• an ability to demonstrate knowledge of a range of texts and critical approaches
• informed awareness of formal and aesthetic dimensions of literature and ability to offer cogent analysis of their workings in specific texts
• sensitivity to generic conventions and to the shaping effects on communication of historical circumstances, and to the affective power 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
• skills of effective communication and argument
• awareness of conventions of scholarly presentation, and bibliographic skills including accurate citation of sources and consistent use of scholarly conventions of presentation
• command of a broad range of vocabulary and an appropriate critical terminology
• awareness of literature and the material format of the book as mediums through which values are affirmed and debated

Key Skills:

• Students studying this module will develop:
• a capacity to analyse critically
• 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 assessed work
• 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

• 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 assessment may, where appropriate to the subject, take an alternative form, such as 'creative criticism'.
• Feedback: The written feedback that is provided after the first assessment allows students to reflect on examiners' comments, giving students the opportunity to improve their work for the second assessment.
• Before the first essay, students will have an individual consultation session (15 minutes) in which they are entitled to show their seminar leader a list of points relevant to the essay and receive oral comment on these points. Students may also, if they wish, discuss their ideas for the second essay at this meeting. This session will not be centrally timetabled, and will be arranged via the seminar leader and student.

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