Why Poetry Matters

English 125, Spring 2017

MW 12-12:50 pm
Jimenez 0220
Friday discussion sections at various times and locations

Instructor: Stanley Plumly

splumly@umd.edu
3105 Tawes Hall

Amanda Allen Derek Ellis Anna Goodson

aallen21@umd.edu dellis15@umd.edu agoodson@umd.edu

I. Course Materials (REQUIRED)

The Norton Anthology of Poetry: Shorter Fifth Edition, eds. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo
Salter, Jon Stallworthy, W.W. Norton, ISBN 9780393979213

II. Course Purpose

Why Poetry Matters is an inquiry into the oldest form of literature and an exploration of
what is arguably the most complex, profound, and ubiquitous expression of human
experience. A primary goal of the class is to develop your ability to see that in patterns
made from the sounds of words, the structures of syntax, the vividness of images, and the
startling presence of metaphor, arises a mode of imaginative thinking founded on paradox
and ambiguity—what the English poet John Keats calls “Negative Capability.” To be
able to think like a poet allows us to perceive and interpret the world in more intricate
and satisfying ways. Learning to read poems helps us to see that such thinking engages
every aspect of endeavor: science, politics, work, religion, and art. It also provides us
with unique ways of comparing, across epochs and cultures, human responses to war,
love, sickness, and death.

Why Poetry Matters focuses on the close reading of individual poems primarily from
Anglo-American and Western traditions. You will become familiar with forms and
conventions of Western poetry, including formal, blank, and free verse; as well as
elements of prosody such as meter, rhyme, diction, alliteration, assonance, and
consonance.

III. Course Goals

The course is designed so that you will achieve the following four Learning Outcomes as
mandated by guidelines for the university’s Humanities General Education Courses. By
the end of the course, you will be able to:
1) Demonstrate familiarity and facility with fundamental terminology and concepts in
poetry.

2) Demonstrate understanding through close-reading and analysis of issues and

techniques employed in individual poems.

3) Describe how poems and poetic language are related to ways of thinking, cultural
heritage, and cultural values.

4) Demonstrate the ability to formulate a thesis developed from a close-reading analysis

of a poem and to support the thesis with evidence and argumentation.

IV. Course Description

1) Organization: Monday and Wednesday class will meet in Jimenez 0220 to discuss
poems that have been organized around specific themes and topics. It is difficult to have a
sustained discussion in a group as large as ours, but I will ask questions frequently and
members of the class will be called upon to answer my questions as well as to read poems
out loud to the group. It is extremely important that you take notes diligently in class. All
of the content for the course is disseminated in class. On Friday, you will meet in
discussion sections taught by a teaching assistant.

2) Discussion Sections: The discussion sections are designed to be an extension of and a

supplement to the large class meetings. These weekly sessions will allow you to engage
in conversations about the poems we have gone over in the larger setting, to flesh out
discussion about those poems we may not have had time to fully consider or to talk about
supplemental reading. You are expected to come prepared with questions and comments
about the poems and concepts introduced in the lecture. It is in this smaller setting where
you will be given a greater opportunity to participate. Participations is worth 10% of your
final grade.

3) Assignments: On average you will be required to read one or two poems for each
Monday and Wednesday class. Reading poems requires that you pay attention to words in
ways that are very different from the way you pay attention when reading a newspaper or
magazine or even a story or novel. This means that it’s very important for you to read
each poem several times. Keep a dictionary nearby and look up words you’re not sure
you understand. It’s also important that you get in the habit of reading poems out loud.
You need to hear what they sound like and what the words feel like as they resonate
inside your chest cavity, throat, and mouth.

4) Norton Anthology: It is absolutely necessary that you bring the Anthology to each
lecture and discussion section meeting.

5) Assignments and Exams:

TESTS Point Value

First 50
Second 50
Third 50
Fourth 50
Final 100
ESSAYS
First 50
Second 50
Third 50
Final 50
Participation/Extra Credit 50

6) Grading System: Grades in this course will be calculated based on points.

A 500
B 400
C 350
D 300
F Below 300

V. Course Information & Policies

1) Courtesies: Please arrive promptly and be mindful that your cell phone is turned off.
If you find it too difficult to arrive on time from a previous class to this one, it would
benefit you to drop this class. Please do not sit on the floor in the back of the class. There
are comfortable seats for everyone.

2) No Laptops, iPhones, Blackberries, headphones, ear buds, etc. Unless you have a
special circumstance requiring you to use an electronic device for note taking or listening,
laptop computers and other electronic devices and components should be turned off and
put away during class. If you do have a special circumstance that requires you to use any
of the above, the Disability Support Services should be contacted. Please see special
circumstances below.

3) Academic Integrity: Violations of the Code of Academic Integrity will not be

tolerated: specifically, plagiarism, whether it is submitting someone else’s work as your
own (such as incorporating internet text into test answers and claiming it as your own) or
submitting your own work completed for another class without permission; and cheating,
defined as “intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information,
or study aids in any academic exercise.” Please review the University’s Code of
Academic Integrity at http://www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu/code.html.
All exams must contain the following honor pledge written out and signed by you: I
pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this
examination.

4) Canceled Class: If class is canceled for any reasons (a weather emergency, for
example), please continue reading according to the syllabus. If a test was to be taken on a
day class is canceled, then the test will be given at the next class meeting.

5) Religious Observance: The University System of Maryland policy on religious

observances provides that students should not be penalized because of observances of
their religious beliefs. Students shall be given an opportunity, wherever feasible, to make
up within a reasonable time any academic assignment that is missed due to individual
participation in religious observances. It is the student’s responsibility to inform the
instructor in advance of any intended absences for religious observances. Notice should
be provided in writing as soon as possible, but no later than the end of schedule
adjustment period.
http://www.umdedu/catalog/index.cfm/show/content.section/c/27/ss/1584/s/1540.
I follow the above policy for English 289p, please let me know in advance that you will
be missing a class because of religious observance.

6) Attendance and Excused and Medical Absences: It is also your responsibility to

inform your TA in advance of any intended absences for university sanctioned events
(e.g. competitions, conferences, athletic events). Notice should be provided in writing as
soon as possible, but no later than the end of schedule adjustment period.

Medical Absence: Regular attendance and participation in this class is the only way to
grasp the concepts and principles being discussed. However, in the event that class must
be missed due to an illness, the policy in this class is as follows:

For every medically necessary absence from class (lecture or discussion group), a
reasonable effort should be made to notify me in advance of the class. When returning to
class, you must bring a note identifying the date of and reason for the absence, and
acknowledging that the information in the note is accurate. If you are absent more than
one time, I require documentation signed by a health care professional.

If you are absent on days when tests are scheduled or papers are due you are required to
notify me in advance, and upon returning to class, bring documentation of the illness,
signed by a health care professional.

7) Email Contact and Class Email List: If you send an email to me, please be sure to
include the course and section number and your name on the subject line of the message;
otherwise I may inadvertently delete your message, along with the many items of spam I
receive daily, without reading it. Please check your email regularly for announcements
sent to the class email list.
8) Special Circumstances: If you have a disability that requires accommodations, please
see me or your TA immediately. If you have a disability and have not registered with
Disability Support Services in the Shoemaker Building (314-7682 or 405-7683 TDD),
you should do so promptly. Should any other special circumstances affect your work in
this course, please let your TA know in writing as soon as possible.

9) Resources: The course will have a space on Canvas. To log on to Canvas, go to

www.elms.umd.edu and follow directions for logging on. The course space will appear in
the right-hand column after you have logged on. Click on the course title to enter the
Canvas space. On the Canvas space you will find the syllabus, advice for reading writing
about poems, and a number of important links to useful poetry sites and University
resources. If you have trouble logging on, please contact the OIT helpdesk.

VI. Schedule:

Below you will find the schedule for our Monday and Wednesday class meetings, and the
exam dates as well as their location. Page numbers indicate poems are in the Norton
Anthology. No page numbers means the poems can be found on our ELMS course site.
You can also find a list of the poems we’ll be reading this semester as a file in the
“Syllabus” section of ELMS. For the daily assignments, you should have read the
indicated poems or essays before coming to class that day.

Course Schedule:
*All poems with page numbers can be found in the Norton Anthology, other poems can
be found on Elms

Jan 25: Intro

Jan 27: Discussion Section

Jan 30: Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening (pp. 803)

The Snowman (pp. 816)

Feb 1: My Papa’s Waltz (pp. 955)

Those Winter Sundays (pp. 968)

Feb 3: Discussion section

Feb 6: The Road Not Taken (pp. 801)

Mending Wall (pp. 795)

Feb 8: NO CLASS

Feb 10: Discussion section

Feb 13: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (pp. 684)

Feb 15: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (cont.)

Feb 17: Discussion section

Feb 20: Killing Time (pp. 1247)

Feb 22: FIRST TEST

Feb 24: Discussion section: FIRST ESSAY

Feb 27: Church Going (pp. 1027)

Mar 1: Directive (pp. 808)

Mar 3: Discussion section

Mar 6: 124 (216), first version (pp. 720)

124 (216), second version (pp. 720-721)

Mar 10: Discussion section

Mar 13: Facing It (pp. 1209)

Banking Potatoes (pp. 1209)

Mar 15: SECOND TEST

Mar 17: NO CLASS

Mar 20 – Mar 24: SPRING BREAK

Mar 27: Voices and Visions Film: Emily Dickinson

Mar 29: Daddy (pp. 1145)

Mar 31: Discussion section: SECOND ESSAY

Apr 3: Tulips (pp. 1143)

Apr 5: Persimmons (pp. 1243)

Out of Hiding (pp. 1245)

Apr 7: Discussion section

Apr 10: Freedom, New Hampshire (handout)

Apr 12: THIRD TEST

Apr 14: Discussion section

Apr 17: The Bear (handout)

The Porcupine (handout)

Apr 19: Voices and Visions Film: Walt Whitman

Apr 21: Discussion section

Apr 24: America (handout)

For Aunt Rose (handout)

Apr 26: This Compost (handout)

Apr 28: Discussion Section: THIRD ESSAY

May 1: The Raven (pp. 615)

May 3: FOURTH TEST

May 5: Discussion section

May 8: REVIEW

May 10: FINAL TEST

FINAL ESSAY

TERMS (The Versification Section at the back of your text—pp. 1252-1275—will help
define most of the terms, but not all. We will define them in class as we go along.)

iamb internal rhyme

pentameter slant rhyme
tetrameter perfect rhyme
trimeter caesura
onomatopoeia
alliteration
assonance blank verse
consonance formal verse
free verse
end-stopped line
end-rhyme
 archetype
couplet analogue (analogy)
tercet oxymoron
quatrain paradox
irony
English sonnet form
Italian sonnet form empathy
sympathy
enjambment
diction hyperbole
simile understatement
metaphor

University of Maryland Statement from the Dean:

“The College of Arts and Humanities values vigorous intellectual debate within a diverse
community. Therefore, as dean I expect this college to be a diverse, open and tolerant
arena within which all ideas, whether popular or not, may be freely discussed without
rancor. Demeaning, intimidating or threatening behavior is unacceptable and contrary to
our ethical principles and basic values. Under various circumstances, such behavior is
also contrary to university policy. The college should take the lead in producing, and take
pride in sustaining, an environment that is characterized by tolerance, respect and civility.
This should be the hallmark of a college that welcomes and values diverse perspectives,
intellectual pluralism and the free and open exchange of ideas. Every member of this
community—staff, faculty, leadership, supervisors and students within the college—is
responsible for promoting such an environment and supporting these expectations.”