University of Southern California



University of Southern California Fall 2008

Master of Professional Writing Program

MPW 980: Advanced Poetry

“The Short & the Long of It”

Class #: 39290

Units: 3

Prerequisites: MPW 970 or permission of instructor

Day, Time, and Location: Mondays, 7-9:40 PM in WPH 204

Professor: Nan Cohen

email: nancohen@

phone: (818) 689-3049

Office hours: Mondays 6-7 PM and by appointment

Introduction and Objectives

This course offers the opportunity for students with a serious interest in poetry to work with a considerable degree of freedom on their own projects; to receive thoughtful attention and response from other poets; and to practice developing and delivering constructive responses to others’ work. In short, the major goal is for you to make progress toward the formation of both an aesthetic (which shapes the poem you write) and a critique (which shapes your response to the poem you read).

There are many themes that would serve to fuel our progress toward both aesthetic and critique, but in order that we find ourselves at work on at least one common problem, I have selected the theme of length. Each poet will be challenged to write at least one long poem or sequence and at least one very short poem (fewer than fourteen lines). While I expect that much of what you write will fall between these two extremes, I hope that all our work will be animated by questions about how a subject seeks its form, and vice versa, through the issue of length.

We will read both very short and very long poems, starting with the two major American poets of the nineteenth century, Emily Dickinson (who wrote some of the most important short American poems) and Walt Whitman (who wrote one of the most important long ones). We will continue on to focus on several significant voices in English-language poetry of the last eighty years.

Texts (available at the USC Bookstore and on reserve at Leavey Library):

John Berryman, Homage to Mistress Bradstreet

Rita Dove, Mother Love

Derek Walcott, Omeros

William Carlos Williams, Paterson

P.J. Kavanagh and James Michie, The Oxford Book of Short Poems

Additional texts (on reserve at Leavey Library):

Emily Dickinson, Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

James Merrill, The Changing Light at Sandover

Kay Ryan, Elephant Rocks

Rosmarie Waldrop, A Key Into the Language of America

Walt Whitman, Complete Poems

Course Requirements and Grades

1. Weekly poem assignments (50%). Weekly assignments seek to help you develop new work to bring to workshop. Each person has one “wild card”: once during the semester you may bring in a poem that is not a direct response to the assignment. Bring copies of all poems for everyone in the class.

2. Written responses (10%). Twice during the semester, you will write a one-page critique of another student’s work, with a copy to the instructor. Guidelines will be provided.

3. Active participation (15%). Please come to class prepared to engage in active discussion, to ask questions, and to take intellectual and creative risks; please also do your utmost to help me make the classroom a welcoming place for all of these activities. You need not speak volumes in order to make a meaningful contribution to the class, but we need your prompt, active, engaged presence to make the course a success.

4. Poetry reading (5%). In lieu of class on September 29, you are requested to attend and report briefly on a poetry reading at some point during the semester. A list of suggested events will be provided.

5. Final portfolio (20%). You will turn in a final portfolio of revised poems with a one-page introduction.

Schedule of Readings and Assignments

|Date |In class |For next class |

|Aug. 25 |Introduction: The Short & the Long |Assignment for Sept. 8 |

| |Handouts |(poem draft, bring copies) |

| | |Read Whitman/Dickinson handout |

|Sept. 1 |Labor Day, class does not meet | |

|Sept. 8 |Dickinson and Whitman; |Assignment (poem draft, bring copies) |

| |workshop |Readings in Oxford Book |

|Sept. 15 |Selected short poems; |Assignment (poem draft, bring copies) |

| |workshop |Read selected short poems and The Waste Land |

|Sept. 22 |The Waste Land; workshop |Assignment (poem draft, bring copies) |

| | |Read Paterson (selections) |

|Sept. 29 |First night of Rosh Hashanah, class does not meet |Attend a poetry reading at some point |

| | |during the semester in lieu of class |

|Oct. 6 |Paterson; workshop |Assignment (poem draft, bring copies) |

| | |Prepare written critique #1 |

|Oct. 13 |Written critique #1 due; |Assignment (poem draft, bring copies) |

| |workshop |Read Homage to Mistress Bradstreet |

|Oct. 20 |Homage to Mistress Bradstreet; workshop; individual | Assignment (poem draft, bring copies) |

| |meetings this week |Readings in Oxford Book |

|Oct. 27 |Selected short poems; |Assignment (poem draft, bring copies) |

| |workshop |Readings in Oxford Book |

|Nov. 3 |Selected short poems; |Assignment (poem draft, bring copies) |

| |workshop |Read Mother Love |

|Nov. 10 |Mother Love and sonnet sequences; workshop |Assignment (poem draft, bring copies) |

| | |Read Omeros |

|Nov. 17 |Omeros; workshop |Assignment (poem draft, bring copies) |

| | |Prepare written critique #2 |

|Nov. 24 |Written critique #2 due; |Revise poems for final portfolio |

| |workshop | |

|Dec. 1 |Last class: workshop and final thoughts |Portfolios due December 8 |

Statement for Students with Disabilities

Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.

Statement on Academic Integrity

USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A: . Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found at: .

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