The primary objectives of this lecture and discussion course are (1) to enhance your appreciation and understanding of the range of American poetries written since the turn of the century and (2) to provide you with a broad critical framework for reading poetry.  This survey course will examine various types of poetry—from the surrealist poetry and imagism of the first decades of this century right up to the nineties, including such contemporary types of poetry as Beat poetry, New York School poetry, Deep Image poetry, Objectivist poetry, and Confessional poetry.    We will also touch upon examples of African-American poetry and Asian-American poetry.   

Our class will be web-assisted so that we can go beyond the walls and boundaries of the traditional classroom.  By using the web, you will have access to many helpful sites about poetry on the World Wide Web; you will be able to discuss freely with your classmates and me the poems that we will read for class; and you will receive specific and helpful instructions and materials that relate to those poems.   

Hopefully, you will make this course YOUR course, and it will become discussion based, rather than a series of lectures by a more-than-bald professor.  As you either know already or will soon discover, this class will be your class: it will be run as democratically as possible, with you and your classmates making many pedagogical decisions.  I see my role in this course as that of an informed facilitator: I will offer a general format for the course but will allow you liberties in choosing the directions we will go.  I cannot stress fervently enough the importance of active discussion and participation for this class.  You must commit yourself from the onset to actively discussing the various poetic texts that we will be reading.  Your reactions—both emotional and cognitive, both immediate and those that follow your close reading and reflection—will be the basis for our classroom discussions.  You must share your unique approaches, understandings, and questions about the poems we will be reading.  Poems are open to many possible interpretations, so the more viewpoints you and your classmates hear and express, the more options we as a class can explore.  Therefore, your constant and active participation is required throughout the course.  The success of this class will ultimately depend upon you.   

As you may already have guessed, because you are both a teacher and a student in this class, your attendance is required for all class sessions.  Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each period; if you are not present at that time but come late, it is your responsibility to make sure you receive partial credit for your attendance.  Students who are often late for class or miss three or more classes will have their final course grade significantly lowered.   

Throughout the semester I will expect all of you to read the texts assigned for each class period (and you are, of course, more than welcome to help choose what particular texts we will read) and come prepared to discuss them.  I will also expect you, together with two of your classmates, to lead the discussion of a particular poem or poet during one class session.  You will complete a midterm exam and write a final paper.   

For each class session you will be reading more poems than we are able to discuss in detail.  I do this to expose you to a greater number of texts than we can comfortably discuss during class time, as well as to give you the opportunity to develop your own critical abilities and interpret some poems on your own.  Instead of a final examination, you will be writing a four page paper (double-spaced with one inch margins) that will be an explication of a poem we have read in class but not discussed in detail.  As the term progresses, I will provide you with more specific details about the paper and possible topics.   

I believe students should be encouraged to write well in all of their English classes.  Papers must exhibit good ideas and good writing.