Course Syllabus

ENGL 2270 Writing Poetry

Course Description

This course is an introduction to the writing of poetry. Students read and discuss exemplary models and compose a variety of projects of their own. Students study a range of poetic techniques such as imagery, metaphor, form, lines, and other techniques associated with poetry. It is recommended that students take ENGL 2250, Introduction to Creative Writing, before taking ENGL 2270.

Justification

Creative writing is an extremely popular course for both majors and non-majors. ENGL 2250 will offer students an introduction to the craft of creative writing in multiple genres. ENGL 2270 complements that class by offering students a chance to delve deeper into the poetry writing process. This course is most like SUU's ENGL 2320 (Creative Writing in the Genres) and Weber's ENGL 2270 (Introduction to Writing Poetry).

General Education Outcomes

1. A student who completes the GE curriculum has a fundamental knowledge of human cultures and the natural world. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to read a wide variety of poetry and use writing and discussion to explore how literature, particularly poetry, creates and reflects human cultures and engages with ideas about the natural world.
2. A student who completes the GE curriculum can read and research effectively within disciplines. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to use effective methods for reading, understanding, and evaluating works of poetry, as well as effective methods for researching topics and ideas, as needed, to enrich their own poetic works.
3. A student who completes the GE curriculum can draw from multiple disciplines to address complex problems. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to explain how poetry and writers of poetry engage with multiple disciplines—such as music, history, sociology, science, etc—in both poetic content and poetic expression and as a way to explore complex human problems.
4. A student who completes the GE curriculum can reason analytically, critically, and creatively. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate creative thinking through the creation of their own poetry. They will also be able to analyze, evaluate, and critically discuss their own poetry and the poetry of others.

General Education Knowledge Area Outcomes

1. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to explain how poetry writing is an iterative and recursive process by learning how to write and revise their own poetic works. Students will be able to articulate their ideas about the relative effectiveness of others’ poetry as expression of human experience and emotion.  Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to explain how poetry writing is an iterative and recursive process by learning how to write and revise their own poetic works. Students will be able to articulate their ideas about the relative effectiveness of others’ poetry as expression of human experience and emotion.
2. APPRECIATE: Apply artistic concepts and ideas drawn from traditions of artistic creation and theory to better engage with, analyze and understand a creative work. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to apply concepts and poetic techniques such figurative language (such as metaphor, simile, etc.), sound devices (such as rhythm, meter, alliteration, etc.), diction, form, and sensory detail in their own writing and as a way to analyze, understand, and evaluate the poetry of others.
3. CONNECT: Examine connections between art and society and articulate how the arts are a historical and cultural phenomenon.  Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to articulate through critical writing and/or discussion how different types of poetry reflect historical, cultural, and social phenomena. Students will read exemplary texts chosen from a variety of time-periods, cultural backgrounds, and poetry forms to help in understanding a variety of topics and perspectives on poetry writing that exist in the writing world.

Course Content

The typical section of ENGL 2270 focuses on poetry writing and addresses imagery, metaphor, figurative language, form, lines, stanzas, and various mechanical issues. Students read a variety of published poetry and compose poems along with a variety of drafts, journals, and analyses. Exemplary texts will be chosen from a variety of time-periods, cultural backgrounds, and poetry forms in order to help students understand the variety of topics and perspectives on poetry writing that exist in the writing world.