• Poets Site Home
• Syllabus
• General Sources
• Idiosyncratic Bibliography
• Course Readings
  • Agha Shahid Ali
  • Elizabeth Bishop
  • Anne Bradstreet
  • Emily Dickinson
  • Mark Doty
  • Martin Espada
  • Robert Frost
  • Eugene Gloria
  • Stanley Kunitz
  • Robert Lowell
  • Marge Piercy
  • Sylvia Plath
  • Adrienne Rich
  • Dr. Seuss
  • Ron Welburn
  • Phillis Wheatley

Poets And Poetry Of New England
Syllabus

Overview

Instructor: William Moebius.

Weekly general meetings Thursday, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Students at UMass Amherst are expected to have read and re-read the required readings and to have screened the video(s) in advance of the date on which a particular poet or poets will be discussed. Readings are 1) listed by title in the General Course Syllabus; 2) included under Course Readings on this website. Videos are available at W.E.B.Dubois Library, Learning Resource Center, 10th Floor.

Writing assignments: please see below for the specifics of writing and other assignments.

Course Schedule

INTRODUCTION

I. DEFINING THE POETS DIFFERENCE

II. DIVIDED IDENTITIES

Teachers And Learners (some background)

The original teaching staff for this course included faculty from several institutions. Each of these faculty had the opportunity to "teach" his or her specialty as it related to poets and poetry of New England (Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine). Each faculty member served as a designated "host," responsible for guiding discussion, establishing research and writing requirements, and evaluating student work at their individual campus sites. Each host faculty member contributed expertise to one or more of the videotapes that provide a focal point for most weeks’ readings. Although only one of the host faculty remains on board for Fall, 2008, due to scheduling conflicts, some of those who have participated in the past figure in the videos as either teachers or poets. Some UMass faculty poets, who are not responsible for guiding discussion on local campuses, may also contribute their expertise. From the Amherst campus alone, two poets (Martin Espada and Ron Welburn), who are also Professors of English, may be persuaded to join us.

Resources, Faculty And Otherwise

In addition to the outstanding poetry collections at the Amherst College (Frost), Smith College (Neilson Library, Mortimer Rare Book Room) and W.E.B. Du Bois Libraries, students may wish to consult the collection at the town library of Amherst (the Jones Library, located on Amity Street across from the former Amherst Cinema). Professor Moebius can be reached via telephone at
545-0929. Professor Moebius will hold office hours by appointment (call 545-0929) on Wednesday afternoons, 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Course Preparation And Attendance

Attendance is required, as is timely arrival in class. You should come to class prepared to discuss all of the assigned readings posted for the poet or poets of the week as well as the interpretations or emphases of particular poems offered by speakers on course videos. These videos are on reserve at the W.E.B. Dubois Library, Learning Resource Center, Tenth Floor.

Weekly Commentaries

Each week, except for December 4 and December 11, two students will offer a reading and then an interpretation, analysis of or commentary on a poem by that week's poet not assigned generally, or by a New England poet whose work is not included in the roster of assigned readings. Any exceptions to this expectation must have the instructor's approval one week in advance. Each reading/presentation should take about 15 minutes, and should allow time for class discusssion. A signup sheet will be provided.

Writing Assignments

You will need to keep a journal (loose-leaf, in a three-ringbinder) of your responses to the assigned readings, the videotapes, and readings done outside class pertaining to the core research areas established for the Amherst site (see sample research questions handout from class). You should expect to be turning in the most recent entries to the journal every two weeks throughout the semester, beginning on September 10.
   You will also write two critical essays that include ananalysis of selected poems, each essay on topics related to a pairing of two poets of New England, one whose work
we've studied in class, the other a poet of New England whose work has not been assigned or discussed. The firstpaper is due on October 16, 2008. The second paper will be due on December 11, 2008. Topics for each paper must be approved two weeks in advance of the paper due date, and must be related to the research areas identified on the sample research question sheet. Each paper must examine carefully a selection of works by two New England poets, one of whom may be among the "assigned" poets for the course.

Collaborative Research and Plagiarism

Your research should be guided but not determined by the sample research questions provided in separate sets of guidelines. You are encouraged to work with a fellow student in an area of common interest, to develop a research plan together, and to draw on each other's research for your paper. While some of the research findings will overlap in your essays, you will be responsible for undertaking original criticism and analysis. It is important that you recognize that you are responsible for crediting all sources of information you draw on in drafting your essays. Whether you are paraphrasing or quoting directly, you must provide appropriate citations for what you borrow. Academic discourse depends on collaboration and on the acknowledgement of that collaboration, even across centuries of writing.
   Research beyond the assigned readings in class is required. Although research through electronic media is encouraged, research in bound paper volumes housed in the W.E.B. Dubois Library will be mandatory. With over amillion volumes, the W.E.B. Dubois library is a campus resource not available to students at other sites that may participate in this course. You are especially encouraged to discover and discuss poets of New England whose poetry is written in languages other than English, whether published or recorded on video.

© 2005 University of Massachusetts Amherst. Site Policies.

This site is maintained by Commonwealth College.