LIT 205: Introduction to Poetry
Summer II, 2003
Section 01: Tue. & Thu. 8:00-11:30,
                 ACADEMIC 108

Brian T. Murphy
Parker 319-V
Ext. 1318
Office Hours
e-mail: bmurphy@Brian-T-Murphy.com
 
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
 

Description

Objectives

Texts

Policies 

Assignments

 Grading 

Schedule

Links

Important Announcements and Updates: Click HERE
 

Print-friendly (MS Word) course outline here.
Other printable documents:
Rubric for Essay Grading Standards
   Revision and Editing Checklist
Essay Outline

 "C'mon, people, this poetry isn't going to appreciate itself!"—Bart Simpson


DESCRIPTION:

This course will be divided into four parts: What poetry is and how it differs from other literary forms; how it evolved (the tradition of poetry); what special skills are needed to understand it; and what purpose it serves in a utilitarian culture. Students in this course will read, analyze and discuss poems.

This is an introductory course in poetry and poetic expressions; however, it is assumed that students have successfully completed the prerequisites for this course, English 101 and English 102, or their equivalent.  Therefore, students are expected to have the necessary background and experience in analyzing, discussing, and responding to literature, as well as the ability to conduct independent research and to write correctly documented research essays  using MLA format.

 

 

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OBJECTIVES

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate the ability to read with understanding and perception while specifically demonstrating the skills necessary to analyze works of poetry for thematic content;
  2. Recognize the relationship between the genre of poetry and the interpreted messages;
  3. Write critical explications of literary works;
  4. Communicate literary analyses with clarity and effectiveness.

 

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TEXTS:

Required: 
Hunter, J. Paul. and Alison Booth, eds.  The Norton Introduction to Poetry, Eighth Edition.  New York: W. W. Norton, 2002.*
(Students may instead utilize  The Norton Introduction to Literature, 8 ed. Eds. Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. New York: W. W. Norton, 2002.)

Recommended:
Hult, Christine A. and Thomas N. Huckin. The New Century Handbook, 2 ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2002; or
Hult, Christine A. and Thomas N. Huckin.The New Century Handbook, Brief Edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001; or
Any college-level English handbook covering grammar, research writing, and documentation using MLA format.

Supplemental readings and materials may be assigned at the instructor’s discretion.

Recommended additional texts:**
Ackroyd, Peter. Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination. New York: Nan A. Talese, 2002 (Available used starting at $9.49 at Amazon.com***).

Baugh, Albert C. and Thomas Cable. A History of the English Language, 3 ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1978.

Bloom, Harold. How to Read and Why. New York: Scribner, 2000. (Available starting at $1.00 at Amazon.com***)

---., ed. Romanticism and Consciousneess: Essays in Criticism. New York: W. W. Norton, 1970.

Casagrande, June. Grammar Snobs are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite. New York: Penguin, 2006. (Available starting at $4.27 at Amazon.com***)

Chandler, Alice. A Dream of Order: The Medieval Ideal in Nineteenth-Century Literature. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1971.

Chevalier, Tracy. Burning Bright. New York: Dutton, 2007.

Crystal, David. The Stories of English. New York: Overlook Press, 2004.

---. Words, Words, Words. New York: Oxford U P, 2006. (Available used starting at $9.28 at Amazon.com***)

Dirda, Michael. Classics for Pleasure. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2007.

Fulghum, W. B. A Dictionary of Biblical Allusions in English Literature. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1965. (Available used, starting at $3.99, at Amazon.com ***).

Gaul, Marilyn. English Romanticism: The Human Context. New York: W. W. Norton, 1988.

Houghton, Walter E. The Victorian Frame of Mind, 1837-1870. New Haven and London: Yale U. P., 1985.

 

*Note that all poems for the semester are available online, as indicated by links (see Schedule, below). However, students must have a copy of the appropriate text(s) with them for each class session, whether they have purchased the textbook or printed out hardcopy from the Internet;  no excuses about computer or printer problems will be accepted. In addition, a large number of recommended readings are available in the textbook, but not readily available online.

** Recommended additional texts are not required purchases, and have not been ordered for the course; however, they provide alternative readings, historical and cultural backgrounds, criticism, personal literary responses, or entertaining (irreverent, possibly sacrilegious) revisions. Students who find themselves becoming deeply interested in one or more of the required readings may find these interesting and/or useful. When indicated with a dagger (†), texts are only provisionally recommended, as I have not read these works yet, although they have received excellent reviews or recommendations.

*** Prices listed at Amazon.com do not include shipping, and are accurate as of posting date only; no guarantees of prices or availability are express or implied§.

 

 

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CLASS POLICIES:

Attendance and Participation:
According to the College Catalog, "Students are expected to attend all class, clinical, laboratory, and studio sessions for the full duration of each instructional session."  Students must not only attend every class, but also be on time, be prepared, and take an active part in class discussions. Students will be required to sign in each class session, to verify their attendance. Students who end the semester with Perfect Attendance (never absent, never late) will receive an additional 5 points (Extra Credit!!!) on their final grades.

Students unable to attend class should contact the instructor regarding missed work as soon as they return to school. Excessive absences or repeated tardiness will result in a lowered grade and may result in failure of the course at the instructor's discretion.

Plagiarism:
Plagiarism includes copying or paraphrasing another's words, ideas, or facts without crediting the source; submitting a paper written by someone else, either in whole or in part, as one's own work; or submitting work previously submitted for another course or instructor. Plagiarism on any assignment will result in failure for that assignment and may result in further disciplinary action, including but not limited to failure for the course. Plagiarism on a second assignment will result in failure for the course and further disciplinary action, up to and including expulsion from the College. Please refer to the Student Handbook for additional information regarding plagiarism and College regulations.

Homework/Essay Submission:
All writing assignments must be submitted on or before the due date indicated on the schedule (below). Late work will not be accepted except under extraordinary circumstances; work submitted after deadlines will result in reduction of the grade for that assignment by 10% for each day it is late.

 

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ASSIGNMENTS
:

ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION (10%):
As this class will combine both lecture and discussion, students are expected to take an active part in class—joining in discussions and raising questions. Discussion is one of the best ways to clarify your understandings and to test your conclusions. Stanley Fish maintains that a text's meaning is determined by consensus among a community of readers; therefore, it is imperative that all students participate regularly in order that we may together discover what each selection "means". Open discussion always involves personal exposure, and thus the taking of risks: your ideas may not be the same as your fellow students’ or even the instructor’s. Yet as long as your points are honest and supportable, they need to be respected by all of us in the classroom. Questions, discussion, disagreement, and laughter are all encouraged in this class (However, ridicule or scoffing is never tolerated).

QUIZZES (10%):
With the exception of the first day, class may begin with a short (five- to ten-minute) quiz or writing assignment on the reading(s) for the day, at the instructor's discretion. Quizzes or response papers missed due to tardiness may not be made up.

PRESENTATIONS (20%):
At the beginning of the semester, all students will select at least one of the works from the list provided (see Presentation Topics, below) to present to the class; each presentation must be ten to fifteen minutes long, and demonstrate familiarity with the selection, its context, and its significance. Ideally, presentations will also be open-ended, leading into class discussions with questions, major themes or topics for further thought.

ESSAYS (2 @ 15%):
Students will complete at least two essays during the semester, on topics to be assigned (see Essay Topics, below). Essays must be at least 5 pages long (1250-1500 words), typed, double-spaced, grammatically correct, and submitted on or before the due date indicated on the schedule, below. In addition, essays must include a cover page and Works Cited page (at least three sources), and use MLA format for documentation. Essays will be evaluated according to the Rubric for Essay Grading Standards. Please refer to the Essay Outline and Revision and Editing Checklist.

EXAMS (2 @ 15%):
Students will complete two ninety-minute exams: an in-class midterm during the sixth class, and a final during the the last class. These exams will each evaluate students' recognition and comprehension of material studied during the previous weeks, covering specific texts, literary themes, and cultural and historical backgrounds. The exams will combine objective questions and short essay answers. Students may be entitled to use notes or textbooks for the essay portion of the exams only.

 

 

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GRADING
:
Final average for the course will be determined as follows:

Attendance/Class Participation

10%

Quizzes/Response Papers

10%

Presentation

15%

Essays (2 @ 15%)

30%

Midterm Exam

20%

Final Exam

20%

Extra Credit (if any) will be added to the final total.

Final average will determine the grade received for the course, as follows:

Final Percentage

Final Grade

90-100

A
85-89 B+
80-84 B
75-79 C+
70-74 C
60-69 D
0-59 F

 

 

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OUTLINE
:
Projected Schedule of Readings and Assignments (This schedule is subject to revision)
Note: All readings below are required, and must be completed by the day indicated; the only exceptions are those indicated with an asterisk (*), which are recommended additional readings.

Tuesday, July 8: Introduction
What is Poetry?
Introduction to Poetic Analysis
Selections for Class Presentations
Introductory Poems:

William Shakespeare, "[Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?]" (22)
anonymous, "[There was a young lady of Riga]" (198)
Hashin, "[No sky and no earth]" (350)
William Carlos Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow” (135)
e.e. cummings,
“[l(a (271)
Lewis Carroll, "Jabberwocky" and "Humpty Dumpty Explicates 'Jabberwocky'" (handout)
*Carol Lin, "Language and Structure in Sharon Olds's 'The Victims'" (247-249)
*"Writing about Poetry" (A1-A46)


Thursday, July 10:
Poems About Art and Poetry

John Keats, "On the Sonnet" (256)
John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (303)
Archibald Macleish, "Ars Poetica" (270)
Marianne Moore, ""Poetry”" (266-7) [* see also 1925 & 1967 versions (451-2)]
Ishmael Reed, "beware: do not read this poem" (268-269)
Adrienne Rich, "Diving Into The Wreck" (184-186)
Wallace Stevens, “Anecdote Of The Jar” (464-465)
*Christine Woodside, "Metrical Variation and Meaning in 'To the Memory of Mr. Oldham'" (220-222)


Tuesday, July 15:
Love Poetry

Thomas Wyatt, "They Flee from Me" (77)
Christopher Marlowe, "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love" (345-346)
Sir Walter Ralegh,
"The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" (354)
William Shakespeare, “[Let me not to the marriage of true minds]” (17)
John Donne, "The Sun Rising" (481-482)
John Donne, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" (482)
Robert Herrick, "Delight in Disorder" (143)
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle,
“Of the Theme of Love” (136)
*Meaghan E. Parker, "Tragedy in Five Stanzas: 'Woodchucks'" (290-294)


Thursday, July 17:
Love Poetry continued
Essay 1 Due

John Donne, "The Flea" (89-90)
Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress" (100-101)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "How Do I Love Thee?"  (2)
Denise Levertov, "Wedding-Ring" (7)
Sharon Olds, "Sex Without Love" (133)

Linda Pastan, "love poem" (4-5)
Adrienne Rich,
“[My mouth hovers across your breasts]”  (323)


Tuesday, July 22:
Poems of Age, Death, and Mourning

William Shakespeare, "[That Time of Year thou mayst in me Behold]" (159)
Edna St. Vincent Millay, "[What lips my lips have kissed] (Sonnet XIX)"  (18)
Roger McCough,
“Here I Am” (509)

Ben Jonson, "On My First Son" (9)
John Donne, “Death, be not proud” (481)
Henry King, "Sic Vita" (170)
Emily Dickinson, "[Because I could not stop for Death, ]" (477)


Thursday, July 24:
Poems of Age, Death, and Mourning continued
Midterm Exam

Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Spring and Fall” (205-206)
Dylan Thomas, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" (266)
Walt Whitman, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" (540-547)
W. H. Auden, "In Memory of W. B. Yeats"  (244-245)
W. H. Auden, "Funeral Blues [Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone]" (16)
Seamus Heaney, "Mid-Term Break" (11)

Margaret Atwood, "Death of a Young Son by Drowning" (65)

Tuesday, July 29: Religious Poetry

John Donne, "Batter my heart, three-person'd God" (167-168)
George Herbert, "The Collar" (285)
George Herbert, "Easter Wings" (274)
William Cowper, “Light Shining out of Darkness” (476-477)
Matthew Arnold,
"Dover Beach"  (96-97)
Gerard Manley Hopkins, "The Windhover" (500)
Gerard Manley Hopkins, "God's Grandeur" (500)
Wallace Stevens, "Sunday Morning" (527-530)
Howard Nemerov, “Boom!” (340-342)


Thursday, July 31: Poems About Identity

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses" (534-535)
Walt Whitman, “[I celebrate myself, and sing myself]” (83)

Walt Whitman, "I Hear America Singing" (540)

Walt Whitman, "A Noiseless Patient Spider" (546)

Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken" (489)
Langston Hughes, "Theme For English B" (502-503)

Audre Lorde, "Hanging Fire" (76)


Tuesday, August 5: War Poetry

Richard Lovelace, “Song: To Lucasta, Going to the Wars” (392)
Thomas Hardy,
"Channel Firing" (375-376)
Wilfred Owen, "Dulce et Decorum Est" (386)
Wilfred Owen, "Disabled " (392-3)
Randall Jarrell, "The Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner" (169)
Richard Eberhart, "The Fury of Aerial Bombardment" (387)
Seamus Heaney, "Punishment" (388-389)
Sharon Olds, “Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941” (174-5)
Mary Jo Salter, "Welcome to Hiroshima" (381-2)


Thursday, August 7: Selected Modern and Contemporary Poems
Essay 2 Due

T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (485-489)
W. B. Yeats, "The Second Coming" (556)
W. B. Yeats, "Leda And The Swan " (557)
e. e. cummings, “[in Just-]” (138-139)
William Carlos Williams, "This Is Just To Say" (135)
Robert Frost, "Design" (286)

Margaret Atwood, "Siren Song" (99-100)
Billy Collins, “Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes” (475-476)


Tuesday, August 12: Race and Gender

Paul Laurence Dunbar, “Sympathy” (483)
Claude McKay, “America” (382)
Countee Cullen, “Yet Do I Marvel” (263)
Langston Hughes, "I, Too, Sing America" (502)
Claude McKay, “The White House” (382)
Langston Hughes, "Harlem (A Dream Deferred)" (383)
James Emanuel, “Emmett Till” (374)
Dudley Randall, “Ballad of Birmingham” (387-388)
Gwendolyn Brooks, “To the Diaspora” (472-473)
Pat Mora, “La Migra” (80-81)


Thursday, August
14: Race and Gender continued
Final Exam

Mary, Lady Chudleigh, “To the Ladies” (21)
Edna St. Vincent Millay, "[I, being born a woman...]" (403)
Dorothy Livesay, “Other” (171-2)
Sylvia Plath, "Lady Lazarus" (519-521)
Paulette Jiles, “Paper Matches” (400)
Marge Piercy, “Barbie Doll” (26)
*"Critical Contexts: A Poetry Casebook" (411-442)

 

 

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PRESENTATION TOPICS
:

Select one of the following poems to present to the class; you must be present on the day of your assigned reading and present the material thoroughly and coherently, demonstrating familiarity with the selection, its context, and its significance. Each presentation must be ten to fifteen minutes long, and, ideally, presentations will also be open-ended, leading into class discussions with questions, major themes, or topics for further thought. The following points may be covered, but do not feel constrained by these suggestions; be creative and have fun.

bullet The Author...(click for details)
    • Major achievements and publications in literature
    • Consistent themes or topics
    • Sources of inspiration
    • Philosophy of art, life, literature
    • Autobiographical elements of the poem
bullet

The Text...(click for details)

bullet Connections...(click for details)
    • Images, motifs, or themes reflected in other works
    • Impact on literature or influence on other authors
    • Possible thematic comparisons for use during critical literary analysis
    • Topics for further class discussion and in-class examinations

Presentation schedule:

Tuesday, July 15: Love Poetry

Thomas Wyatt, "They Flee from Me" (77)
William Shakespeare, “[Let me not to the marriage of true minds]” (17)
John Donne, "The Sun Rising" (481-482)
John Donne, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" (482)
Robert Herrick, "Delight in Disorder" (143)


Thursday, July 17:
Love Poetry continued

Denise Levertov, "Wedding-Ring" (7)
Sharon Olds, "Sex Without Love" (133)

Adrienne Rich, “[My mouth hovers across your breasts]”  (323)


Tuesday, July 22:
Poems of Age, Death, and Mourning

Roger McCough, “Here I Am” (509)

Ben Jonson, "On My First Son" (9)
John Donne, “Death, be not proud” (481)
Henry King, "Sic Vita" (170)


Thursday, July 24:
Poems of Age, Death, and Mourning continued

Walt Whitman, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" (540-547)
W. H. Auden, "In Memory of W. B. Yeats"  (244-245)
W. H. Auden, "Funeral Blues [Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone]" (16)
Seamus Heaney, "Mid-Term Break" (11)

Margaret Atwood, "Death of a Young Son by Drowning" (65)

Tuesday, July 29: Religious Poetry

George Herbert, "The Collar" (285)
William Cowper, “Light Shining out of Darkness” (476-477)
Gerard Manley Hopkins,
"The Windhover" (500)
Wallace Stevens, "Sunday Morning" (527-530)
Howard Nemerov, “Boom!” (340-342)


Thursday, July 31: Poems About Identity

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses" (534-535)
Walt Whitman, “[I celebrate myself, and sing myself]” (83)

Walt Whitman, "I Hear America Singing" (540)

Langston Hughes, "Theme For English B" (502-503)

Audre Lorde, "Hanging Fire" (76)


Tuesday, August 5: War Poetry

Thomas Hardy, "Channel Firing" (375-376)
Wilfred Owen, "Disabled " (392-3)
Richard Eberhart, "The Fury of Aerial Bombardment" (387)
Seamus Heaney, "Punishment" (388-389)
Mary Jo Salter, "Welcome to Hiroshima" (381-2)


Thursday, August 7: Selected Modern and Contemporary Poems

T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (485-489)
e. e. cummings, “[in Just-]” (138-139)
William Carlos Williams, "This Is Just To Say" (135)
Margaret Atwood, "Siren Song" (99-100)
Billy Collins, “Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes” (475-476)


Tuesday, August 12: Race and Gender

Paul Laurence Dunbar, “Sympathy” (483)
Claude McKay, “America” (382)
Langston Hughes, "I, Too, Sing America" (502)
Claude McKay, “The White House” (382)
Gwendolyn Brooks, “To the Diaspora” (472-473)


Thursday, August
14: Race and Gender continued

Edna St. Vincent Millay, "[I, being born a woman...]" (403)
Dorothy Livesay, “Other” (171-2)
Sylvia Plath, "Lady Lazarus" (519-521)
Paulette Jiles, “Paper Matches” (400)
Marge Piercy, “Barbie Doll” (26)

 

 

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ESSAY TOPICS
:
For each of the assigned essays, a list of topic choices is provided. Your essay must be on one of the assigned topics for that assignment, or it will receive a zero (0).

Essays must be typed, double-spaced, and grammatically correct; essays will be evaluated according to the rubric for Essay Grading Standards. In addition, essays must use a minimum of three authoritative sources (primary and/or secondary), properly documented (utilizing MLA-Style Citations for documentation), with a cover page and Works Cited page (cover page and Works Cited do not count toward the five-page requirement).

Please read the Appendix to your textbook, "Writing about Poetry" (A1-A46) or "Writing about Literature", before beginning your essays, and also read the sample student essays: Christine Woodside, "Metrical Variation and Meaning in 'To the Memory of Mr. Oldham'" (220-222), Carol Lin, "Language and Structure in Sharon Olds's 'The Victims'" (247-249), and Meaghan E. Parker, "Tragedy in Five Stanzas: 'Woodchucks'" (290-294). "Critical Contexts: A Poetry Casebook" (411-442) also provides useful examples of literary criticism to utilize as models.

Remember that these are formal essays: in your analyses, do not attempt to address all aspects of the poem, but carefully focus your topic; avoid merely paraphrasing the poem or covering each of the elements of the poem in the order presented by the assignment, below; formulate a clear, explicit, assertive (persuasive), objectively-worded thesis statement; and avoid use of "I" or "you" throughout.

All essays must be submitted on or before the due date, by the beginning of the class period. Late work will not be accepted.

Essay 1: Due Thursday, 17 July
Answer one of the following questions in a well-developed, coherent, and thoughtful essay of at least 5 pages (1250-1500 words). Your essay should not be limited to repetition of class discussion, but should include independent research (both primary and secondary sources) and analysis and demonstrate careful thought. Your essay should explore the work's (or works') tone, speaker, language (including figurative language or imagery, diction, and allusions) and structure (including meter and rhyme scheme, or the lack of them), and explain how these are interrelated and how they shape or influence meaning. Support your answers with specific references to the work(s).

  1. Select two of the poems from the syllabus about Love, Age, Death, or Mourning, written or published at least fifty years apart, and compare and contrast the way the two treat the same theme. Your analysis should establish a clear connection between the two poems, beyond merely "They both discuss love" or "both refer to death"; rather, the connection should be based on similarities in situation, structure, language, imagery, et cetera.

  2. Select one of the poems from the syllabus about Love, or about Age, Death, and Mourning, and a set of lyrics from a song (ca. 1960-2000) on the same theme, and compare and contrast the way the two treat the same theme. Your analysis should establish a clear connection between the poem and the song you choose, beyond merely "They both discuss love" or "both refer to death"; rather, the connection should be based on similarities in situation, structure, language, imagery, et cetera.

  3. Select one of the poems from the syllabus and analyze how it challenges or calls into question our culture's beliefs or myths about "Art" or poetry, love, marriage or relationships between men and women, or death. If the poem you select had already been discussed in class, be sure to present original analysis and ideas, supported by your research, rather than merely paraphrasing class discussions.

 

Essay 2: Due Thursday, 7 August
Answer one of the following questions in a well-developed, coherent, and thoughtful essay of at least 5 pages (1250-1500 words). Your essay should not be limited to repetition of class discussion, but should include independent research (both primary and secondary sources) and analysis and demonstrate careful thought. Your essay should explore the work's (or works') tone, speaker, language (including figurative language or imagery, diction, and allusions) and structure (including meter and rhyme scheme, or the lack of them), and explain how these are interrelated and how they shape or influence meaning. Support your answers with specific references to the work(s).

  1. Select two of the poems from the syllabus about about War, Race, or Gender, written or published at least fifty years apart, and compare and contrast the way the two treat the same theme. Your analysis should establish a clear connection between the two poems, beyond merely "They both discuss love" or "both refer to death"; rather, the connection should be based on similarities in situation, structure, language, imagery, et cetera.

  2. Select one of the poems from the syllabus about War, Race, or Gender, and a set of lyrics from a song (ca. 1960-2000) on the same theme, and compare and contrast the two. Your analysis should establish a clear connection between the poem and the song you choose, beyond merely "They both discuss war" of "both refer to gender"; rather, the connection should be based on similarities in situation, structure, language, imagery, et cetera.

  3. Select one of the poems from the syllabus and analyze how it challenges or calls into question our culture's beliefs or myths about the nature of religious experience, the nature and causes of war, race and culture, or gender roles. If the poem you select had already been discussed in class, be sure to present original analysis and ideas, supported by your research, rather than merely paraphrasing class discussions.

 

 

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Links
The following selective lists are intended to provide jumping off points for research;
these lists are not to be construed as an exhaustive collection of the "best" links. While every effort is made to verify the accuracy and usefulness of these links and their contents, no guarantees are made. Please notify me of any broken or outdated links at bmurphy@Brian-T-Murphy.com.

General Literature Links Selected Authors
Selected Texts Grammar, Writing, and Research Papers
Additional Links more to come

 

 

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General Literature and Poetry Links

The Academy of American Poets Modern American Poetry (Dept. of English, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
The Academy of American Poets -- Listening Booth Nineteenth-Century British & Irish Writers
American Literature: Electronic Texts Norton Poets Online
The American Poetry Review The Online Poetry Classroom
Atlantic Unbound Poetry Pages Poems That Go

The Bartleby Project (Electronic texts)

Poetry

British and Irish Authors on the Web

The Poetry Archives (e-mule.com)

British Poetry 1780-1910: A Hypertext Archive

Poetry Online
A Celebration of Women Writers from England Poetry Previews
The Contemporary Poetry Review

The Pre-Raphaelite Critic

Electronic Poetry Center: SUNY Buffalo

 Project Gutenberg (Project Gutenberg)

Electronic Resources for Nineteenth Century Studies (review with links)

Representative Poetry Online (Electronic texts)

English Literature on the Web

Romantic Circles (University of Maryland)

Favorite Poem Project

Romantic Links

IASIL: International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures

Romanticism: Introduction

Literary Calendar (a literary  almanac)

Romanticism on the Net (online journal) 

Literary Resources: Victorian British

University of Virginia Electronic Text Center (Electronic texts; some access limited)

Literary Resources: 20th-Century British & Irish 

University of Toronto English Library (Electronic texts)

Literary Resources on the Net: General

The Victorian Women Writers Project

 

 

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Selected Authors:

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)
Matthew Arnold - The Academy of American Poets
Arnold, Matthew. The Literary Criticism of Matthew Arnold. ...
Matthew Arnold (Representative Poetry Online)

Culture and Anarchy

Margaret Atwood (1939- )
Margaret Atwood - OW Toad
Atwood Society Margaret Atwood Information Site
Margaret Atwood

W[ystan] H[ugh] Auden (1907-1973)
W. H. Auden (biographical sketch and selected poems)
W. H. Auden
The W. H. Auden Society

Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)
Gwendolyn Brooks - The Academy of American Poets
A Gwendolyn Brooks Page
The San Antonio College LitWeb Gwendolyn Brooks Page
 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning - The Academy of American Poets
Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning Page
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Robert Burns (1759-1796)
The Bard
The Burns Federation
Robert Burns: A Bicentenary Exhibition
Welcome to Burns Country (official site)

Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832-1898)
Lewis Carroll: Academic Information
Lewis Carroll Homepage
Lewis Carroll: Photographer

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle
Margaret Cavendish Society -- Information on the Society and its coonferences; images; links; and a big secondary bibliography.
Margaret Cavendish Bibliography (James Fitzmaurice, Northern Arizona Univ.)

Mary Lee, Lady Chudleigh (1656-1710)
Chudleigh Bibliography (Ezell)
Mary Lee, Lady Chudleigh

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1722-1834)
The Samuel Taylor Coleridge Archive
with on-line annotated
texts of Coleridge's poems
and a
critical essay on Coleridge's conversation poems
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Victorian Web)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge Biography

Billy Collins (1941- )
Billy Collins - The Academy of American Poets
Billy Collins
Billy Collins - The Link Library

William Cowper
The San Antonio College LitWeb William Cowper Page
William Cowper
William Cowper: the early years

Countee Cullen (1903-1946)
Countee Cullen - The Academy of American Poets
Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen

e. e. cummings (1894-1962)
E. E. Cummings (Norton Poets Online)
An Unofficial EE Cummings Starting Point
EE Cummings - The Academy of American Poets
EE.Cummings
ee cummings

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Dickinson Electronic Archives
Emily Dickinson Page
The Poetry of Emily Dickinson. Complete Poems of 1924 (Bartleby.com)
Emily Dickinson International Society
Emily Dickinson Page

John Donne (1572-1631)
Selected Poetry of John Donne (1572-1631)
John Donne (Incompetech's somewhat satirical take on Donne)
John Donne - Biography and Works
John Donne - LiteratureClassics.com  (student essays on Donne's work, poems, and links)
John Donne: The Love poetry of John Donne

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
Paul Laurence Dunbar Homepage
Paul Laurence Dunbar Digital Text Archives
Paul Laurence Dunbar biography, articles, photos and selected poems.
Paul Laurence Dunbar House
Paul Laurence Dunbar

Richard Eberhart (1904- )
Richard Eberhart - The Academy of American Poets
In a Dark Time ...: Richard Eberhart Archives
 

T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)
T. S. Eliot
The T. S. Eliot Page
What the Thunder Said: T. S. Eliot
TS Eliot (Bartleby.com)
TS Eliot - The Academy of American Poets

James Emanuel (1921- )
James A. Emanuel
James Emanuel - The Academy of American Poets
James Emanuel

Robert Frost (1874-1963)
A Frost Bouquet: An Exhibition in the Tracy W. McGregor Room (Univ. of Virginia) -- A highly illustrated exhibition on Frost's life and works, including facsimiles of drafts and published poems.
The Robert Frost Web Site (biography, selected poems, and bibliographies)
In Quest of Robert Frost (links and a selection of poems)
Robert Frost

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
Thomas Hardy (Representative Poetry Online)
Thomas Hardy (from Literature Online)
Thomas Hardy E-Texts & Resources
The Thomas Hardy Online Society
The Thomas Hardy Society of North America
Thomas Hardy's World
Wessex Poems and Other Verses (Bartleby Project)

Hashin (1864-?)

Seamus Heaney (1939-)
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney: 1995 Nobel Laureate in Literature
Seamus Heaney (Norton Poets Online)
Seamus Heaney

George Herbert (1593-1633)
George Herbert (1593-1633)
George Herbert & The Temple

Robert Herrick (1591-1674)
Robert Herrick (1591-1674) (Luminarium.org)
Robert Herrick - The Academy of American Poets
Robert Herrick
library.utoronto.ca/www/utel/rp/authors/herrick.html
www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/authors/herrick.html
Robert Herrick

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)
Gerard Hopkins (Dundee University)
Gerard Manley Hopkins Overview (The Victorian Web)
The Gerard Manley Hopkins Web
Selected Poetry

A[lfred] E[dward] Housman (1859-1936)
Selected Poems
A Shropshire Lad (complete text)
AE Housman
Housman, AE 1896. A Shropshire Lad
AE Housman Collection at Bartleby.com
The Housman Society: Alfred Edward Housman

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
Langston Hughes (biography and poetry)
Langston Hughes - The Academy of American Poets
Langston Hughes Langston Hughes (1902-1967) : Teacher Resource File
POET HERO: LANGSTON HUGHES

Ted Hughes (1930-1999)
Ted Hughes Pages
Ted Hughes Page ( biographies, bibliographies, reviews, original essays, links, and announcements)
Ted Hughes: Timeline

Randall Jarrell (1914-1965)
Randall Jarrell - The Academy of American Poets
Randall Jarrell
The Randall Jarrell Collection at UNCG
Randall Jarrell. 1914-1965

Paulette Jiles
100 Canadian Poets - Paulette Jiles - Profile
Interview with Paulette Jiles -- ReadersRead.com

Ben Jonson (1572?-1637)
Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
Ben Jonson: Biography
The Ben Jonson Journal

John Keats (1795-1821)
John Keats (Representative Poetry Online)
British Library's John Keats Exhibit
John Keats (from Literature Online)
The Keats-Shelley House in Rome

The Poetical Works of John Keats (Bartleby Project)
The "Real" Grecian Urn?
Keats Exhibit (British Library)
Keats page (CUNY)
John Keats (Victorian Web)

Henry King
Poets' Corner - Henry King - Selected Works
Henry King. (Bartelby.com)

Denise Levertov
Denise Levertov - The Academy of American Poets
Denise Levertov
The Beat Page - Denise Levertov
American Literature Web Resources: Denise Levertov
Denise Levertov

Dorothy Livesay
100 Canadian Poets - Dorothy Livesay - Profile
Dorothy Livesay biography
An Interview with Dorothy Livesay
University of Manitoba : Archives & Special Collections

Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde (Norton Poets Online)
Audre Lorde Page
Audre Lorde
Voices From the Gaps: Audre Lorde

Richard Lovelace (1618-1657)
Richard Lovelace (1618-1657)
Passions in Poetry - Classical Poems by Richard Lovelace
Richard Lovelace
Poetry Archives @ eMule.com
Richard Lovelace (Bartleby.com)

Archibald Macleish
Archibald MacLeish - The Academy of American Poets
Archibald MacLeish

Christopher Marlowe (1654-1593)
The Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe
The Marlowe Society
Christopher Marlowe (Luminarium.org)
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
The Life of Christopher Marlowe

Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)
Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)
www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/authors/marvell.html
Andrew Marvell

Roger McCough 

Claude McKay (1889-1948)
Claude McKay
Claude McKay
Claude McKay - The Academy of American Poets
Claude McKay
PAL: Claude McKay (1890-1948)

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)
Edna St. Vincent Millay - The Academy of American Poets
Edna St. Vincent Millay (fan site)
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay Collection at Bartleby.com

Marianne Moore (1887-1972)
Marianne Moore
Marianne Moore - The Academy of American Poets
Marianne Moore
Marianne Moore

Pat Mora (1942- )
Pat Mora - Author of poetry, nonfiction, and children's books
Pat Mora
Voices From the Gaps: Pat Mora
Voices from the Gaps: Pat Mora
Pat Mora

Howard Nemerov (1920-1991)
Howard Nemerov - The Academy of American Poets
St. Louis Walk of Fame - Howard Nemerov
Howard Nemerov Page
Howard Nemerov and Objective Idealism Donna L Potts

Sharon Olds (1942- )
New York State Writers Institute - Sharon Olds
Salon: Sharon Olds
Sharon Olds
Sharon Olds Resources
Sharon Olds - The Academy of American Poets
Sharon Olds
Borzoi Reader | Authors | Sharon Olds
The Writer : Sharon Olds
Introduction to Sharon Olds
 

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
Wilfred Owen (Norton Poets Online)
Wilfred Owen Multimedia Digital Archive
THE WILFRED OWEN ASSOCIATION
Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen
THE WILFRED OWEN ASSOCIATION
Poems by Wilfred Owen
Poetry of Wilfred Owen (full-text poems)
Selected Poetry of Wilfred Owen (1893-Nov. 4, 1918)
Wilfred Owen: War Poet.

Linda Pastan (1932- )
Linda Pastan (Norton Poets Online)
Linda Pastan - The Academy of American Poets
Linda Pastan, Poetry: Issue Seven - The Cortland Review
Linda Pastan: Heroes in Disguise
Poetry Daily Feature: Linda Pastan - The Last Uncle
Linda Pastan
Ploughshares, the literary journal

Marge Piercy (1936- )
Marge Piercy
A Marge Piercy Home Page
Marge Piercy - The Academy of American Poets
Piercy, Marge
Poetry: Marge Piercy
Marge Piercy (video)
Marge Piercy's Biography

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)
Sylvia Plath Links
Sylvia Plath Forum: home page
PlathOnline.com
Sylvia Plath - The Academy of American Poets
Sylvia Plath
Lucy's Sylvia Plath Page

Sir Walter Ralegh (1552-1668)
Sir Walter Ralegh
The Works of Sir Walter Ralegh
The Avalon Project : Charter to Sir Walter Raleigh : 1584
Selected Poetry of Sir Walter Ralegh (ca. 1552-1618)

Dudley Randall
Dudley Randall
Dudley Randall's Life and Career
Poetry: Dudley Randall

Dudley Randall -- Ballad of Birmingham

Ishmael Reed (1938- )
Ishmael Reed by Spring
Ishmael Reed
University of Delaware: THE ISHMAEL REED PAPERS
The San Antonio College LitWeb Ishmael Reed Page
Ishmael Reed
Ishmael Reed - The Academy of American Poets

Adrienne Rich (1929- )
Adrienne Rich (Norton Poets Online)
Adrienne Rich
Adrienne Rich - The Academy of American Poets
Adrienne Rich
Resources

Mary Jo Salter (1954- )
Faculty Profile: Mary Jo Salter
Mary Jo Salter

William Shakespeare (1554-1616)
Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet
humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare (Usenet newsgroup)
Shakespeare Homepage (MIT)
Furness Shakespeare Library (Univ. of Pennsylvania)
Shakespeare Internet Sites
Sher's Shakespeare Index
Approaches to Shakespeare (
The Shakespeare Web
Shakespeare Page
Approaches to Shakespeare
Renaissance Texts Research Centre: Shakespeare and the Globe
Internet Shakespeare Editions
Shakespeare Institute Library
Shakespeare Bulletin
Shakespeare and His Critics (seventeenth century to present)
Absolute Shakespeare

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley
The Keats-Shelley House in Rome
Percy Bysshe Shelley Resources

Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)
Wallace Stevens
Hartford Friends and Enemies of Wallace Stevens

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (from Literature Online)
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Selected Poetry of Alfred, Lord Tennyson
The Tennyson Page (inc. online recordings)

Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)
A Child's Christmas in Wales
The Dylan Thomas Centre (Swansea)

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
The Whitman Project
Walt Whitman Home Page (Library of Congress)
Mickle Street Review: An Electronic Journal of Whitman and American Studies

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
LitKicks: William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams - The Academy of American Poets
Williams, William Carlos
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams
Amy Munno's William Carlos Williams Page
William Carlos Williams Review

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
William Wordsworth (Representative Poetry Online)
Complete Poetical Works (Bartleby Project)
The Wordsworth Trust
Lyrical Ballads: 1798 text (Univ. of Oregon)
William Wordsworth (Victorian Web)

Thomas Wyatt
Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Elder (1503-1542)
www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/authors/wyatt.html
Thomas Wyatt
Thomas Wyatt The Complete Poems.
Thomas Wyatt

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
Yeats, William Butler - Poetry Today Online
Yeats, William Butler - W. B. Yeats: The Collected Poems
Wind Among the Reeds
W. B. Yeats: The Collected Poems
Yeats, William Butler - Wild Swans at Coole
Yeats, William Butler - Atlantic Monthly
William Butler Yeats Poems
Heart's Ease Library - William Butler Yeats
Guardian Unlimited - William Butler Yeats, 1865-1939
Today in Literature - William Butler Yeats
1Up Info - W. B. Yeats, (William Butler Yeats), 1865-1939

 

 

 

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Selected Texts (alphabetical by author):

Anonymous
"[There was a young lady of Riga]"

Matthew Arnold
 "
Dover Beach"

Margaret Atwood
"Death of a Young Son by Drowning"
"Siren Song"

W. H. Auden
"Musιe des Beaux Arts"
"In Memory of W. B. Yeats"
"Funeral Blues (Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone)"

Gwendolyn Brooks
“To the Diaspora”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning
"How do I Love thee?"

Lewis Carroll
"Jabberwocky"
"Humpty Dumpty Explicates 'Jabberwocky'"

Margaret Cavendish
Duchess of Newcastle
“Of the Theme of Love”

Mary, Lady Chudleigh
“To the Ladies”

Billy Collins
“Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes”

William Cowper
“Light Shining out of Darkness”

Countee Cullen
“Yet Do I Marvel”

e. e. cummings
“[l(a
“[in Just-

Emily Dickinson
"
[Because I could not stop for Death, ]"

John Donne
"Batter my heart, three-person'd God"
“Death, be not proud”
"The Flea"
"The Sun Rising"
"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"

Paul Laurence Dunbar
“Sympathy”

Richard Eberhart
"The Fury of Aerial Bombardment"

T. S. Eliot
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"The Hollow Men
"Journey Of The Magi"

James Emanuel
“Emmett Till”

Robert Frost
"Design"
"The Road Not Taken"

Thomas Hardy
"Channel Firing"

Hashin
"[No sky and no earth]"  

Seamus Heaney
"Mid-Term Break"
"Punishment"

George Herbert
"The Collar"
"Easter Wings"

Robert Herrick
"Delight in Disorder"

Gerard Manley Hopkins
"God's Grandeur"
"Pied Beauty"
“Spring and Fall”
"Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord"
"The Windhover"

Langston Hughes
"Harlem (A Dream Deferred)"
"I, Too, Sing America"
"Theme For English B"

Randall Jarrell
"The Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner"

Paulette Jiles
“Paper Matches”

Ben Jonson
"On My First Son"

John Keats
"Ode to a Nightingale"
"Ode on a Grecian Urn"
"La Belle Dame Sans Merci"
"On First Looking into Chapman's Homer"
"On the Sonnet"

Henry King
"Sic Vita"

Denise Levertov
"Wedding-Ring"

Dorothy Livesay
“Other”

Audre Lorde
"Hanging Fire"

Richard Lovelace
“Song: To Lucasta, Going to the Wars”

Archibald Macleish
"Ars Poetica"

Christopher Marlowe
"The Passionate Shepherd to his Love"

Andrew Marvell
"To His Coy Mistress"

Roger McCough
“Here I Am”

Claude McKay
“America”
“The White House”

Edna St. Vincent Millay
"[I, being born a woman...] (Sonnet XVIII)"
"[What lips my lips have kissed] (Sonnet XIX)"

Marianne Moore
"Poetry”

Pat Mora
“La Migra”

Howard Nemerov
“Boom!”

Sharon Olds
“Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941”
"Sex Without Love"

Wilfred Owen (2066)
"Anthem for Doomed Youth"
"Disabled "
"Dulce et Decorum Est"

Linda Pastan
"love poem"

Marge Piercy
“Barbie Doll”

Sylvia Plath
"Lady Lazarus"

Sir Walter Ralegh
"The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd"

Dudley Randall
“Ballad of Birmingham”

Ishmael Reed
"beware: do not read this poem"

Adrienne Rich
"Diving Into The Wreck"
“[My mouth hovers across your breasts]”

Mary Jo Salter
"Welcome to Hiroshima"

William Shakespeare
“
[Let me not to the Marriage of True Minds]”
"[Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?]"
"
[That Time of Year thou mayst in me Behold]"

Wallace Stevens
“Anecdote Of The Jar”
"Sunday Morning"

Alfred, Lord Tennyson
"
Ulysses"
"Break, Break, Break"

Dylan Thomas
"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"

Walt Whitman
"A Noiseless Patient Spider"
"I Hear America Singing"
“[I celebrate myself, and sing myself] ('Song of Myself' ll. 1-13)”
"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"

William Carlos Williams
"This Is Just To Say"
“The Red Wheelbarrow (so much depends)”

Thomas Wyatt
"They Flee from Me"

W. B. Yeats
"Easter 1916"
"Lake Isle of Innisfree"
"Leda And The Swan "
"The Second Coming"
"When You are Old"

 

 

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Grammar, Writing, and Research Papers:

LitWeb: Companion website to Norton Introduction to Literature The New Century Handbook

Online English Grammar

How to Write a Research Paper

A Guide to Grammar & Writing

More on Writing a Research Paper

Study Guides and Strategies

MLA-Style Citations

Getting an A on an English Paper

Another Guide to Grammar and Style

 

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Additional Links:

BCC English Studies page BCC Writing Lab
BCC Library Brian-T-Murphy.com
BCC Test Center

BCC website

 

 

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Last Revised: Friday, 28 March 2008
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Main page: www.Brian-T-Murphy.com

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