Textbook
Margaret Ferguson and others, eds, The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th
edn (New York: Norton, 2005)
The Stanford Bookstore has not been able to obtain adequate numbers of new copies of this text. However, the book is widely available, both at other local bookstores and online from booksellers such as amazon.com
A few other poems and documents will be available to classmembers on this CourseWork site during the quarter.
Course Requirements and Grading (percentages approximate)
- 1 very short paper (1-1.5 pages) 10%
- 1 short paper (2-4 pages) 15%
- Recitation in section of 30 lines of poetry 10%
- Composition of 1 short poem 15%
- 1 longer paper (6-9 pages) 25%
- Regular attendance at lectures and sections, substantive participation
in class, section and the online course forum 25%
TA
The TA for this class will be Jessica Weare (jweare@stanford.edu). On Weds, 28 Sept, Jessica will begin organizing section times.
Procedural
For two sessions out of each three, the basic element of this course will a lecture, but in all our sessions there will
also be dialogue and the interchange of ideas and perceptions about poetry. During
each lecture there will be a period for you to ask questions. And every Wednesday, every third session in other words,
we will read one previously-unseen poem together in class.
In order that the course be a meaningful one for you, it is vital that you do
the reading before each class. For most classes, the assigned amount of reading
is relatively small. This is to give you a chance to read and re-read the poems
intensively, the only sure way to bring out a poem's inner meaning. It is also
helpful if, hefty as the book is, you can bring the Norton with you so you can
make references and follow lectures and other people's comments.
Please double space all your papers. No late work will be accepted without prior
notification to me or our TA, given well in advance.
Writing in the Major
This course satisfies the Writing-in the-Major requirement for English majors.
Christine McBride (cmcbride@stanford.edu), the consultant and program coordinator for Writing in the Major, will be visiting at the start of the session on 28 Sept. to give a brief presentation
on the way the program runs and to answer your questions.
Bibliography: Some Poetry Handbooks and Guides to Forms and Terms
M. H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms, 6th edn (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace,
1993)
Paul Fussell, Poetic Meter and Poetic Form (New York: Random House, 1965)
John Hollander, Rhyme’s Reason: A Guide to English Verse, 3rd edn
(New Haven: Yale UP, 2001)
Alex Preminger and T. V. F. Brogan, eds, The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry
and Poetics
(Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993)
Jon Stallworthy, “Versification,” in Margaret Ferguson and others, eds, The Norton
Anthology of Poetry, 5th edn (New York: Norton, 2005), 2027-2052
Mark Strand and Eavan Boland, eds, The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of
Poetic Forms (New York: Norton, 2000)
Helen Vendler, Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology (Boston: St
Martin’s, 1997)
