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FORM OF POETRY
Section 001 / Fall 2004 / Susan Tichy / Tuesday 7:20-10:00 / Thompson Hall 106 


PORTFOLIO

Your portfolio should reflect both what you have accomplished and what you have attempted. I'll be looking for two somewhat contradictory qualities -- a willingness to submit to apprenticeship in your craft and a free spirit of exploration in forms and formal ideas that are new to you. It will be up to you to decide which poems require which quality (might some require both?) and which poems are worthy of extensive engagement and revision.

I will read your portfolio twice. The second portfolio should include revisions from the first one, as well as new poems from the second half of the semester. I'll assign a grade after each reading; should they differ, the second grade will trump the first. This is not meant to give more weight to free verse and modern forms; the revision process and the opportunity to turn in new poems in any form should make it possible for you to emphasize traditional forms should you wish to do so.

REQUIREMENTS FOR FIRST PORTFOLIO:

1) Six metrical poems, including at least one poem in each of these forms:

  • 4x4 or ballad stanza
  • iambic pentameter blank verse
  • closed or open couplets in any meter, using any form of true or slant rhyme
  • sonnet
  • two other stanza forms (e.g. other kinds of quatrains, rime royal, terza rima, Burns stanza, pantoum, villanelle, sestina, ottava rima, Sapphics, etc. For this requirement, do not include haiku, blues, hip-hop, prose poem, or experimental forms.)

2) At least one of your poems must also be an example of an elegy, aubade, carpe diem, epistle, pastoral, satire, or nocturne.

3) Turn in two copies of each poem, one typed normally and one typed triple-spaced and scanned. Be sure to scan appropriately for the meter you are using.

4) At your discretion, you may turn in one or two additional poems in any form we have talked or read about thus far, including poems that experiment with these forms in novel ways.

5) For one of your poems, attach a short analysis of its structure & closure, based on concepts in Poetic Closure. This may be purely expository, or it may include marginalia and diagramming. It should not exceed 1000 words. Be sure to address both formal and thematic structure.

6) Include a header on each poem, so I know what form you are working with. Please remember that if the class includes 15 poets I will be reading between 90 & 120 poems and I won't be interested in wasting time or solving puzzles.

7) To package the portfolio, imagine me dropping your portfolio in the parking lot on rainy night. Use a pocket folder or a closed envelope. I will not accept loose pages or open folders. On the outside, put my name, your name, and your phone number(s) and e-mail.

REQUIREMENTS FOR SECOND PORTFOLIO:

This portfolio will include two sections. The first section will be similar in structure to your first portfolio, and should include:

1) Six poems, including six of these nine forms:

  • a free verse poem derived from either version of the "counterpoint" exercise on my web page of writing exercises
  • a free verse poem using short, phrasal lines ("parsing meter")
  • a long-line free verse poem
  • a poem in free verse couplets, tercets, or quatrains (don't use tercets for this requirement if you are turning in the tercet version of the counterpoint exercise)
  • a poem using the page space typographically
  • a syllabic poem
  • an accentual poem using three or four beats per line
  • a collage or quoting poem
  • a concrete or visual poem

2) At least one of your poems must also be an example of an elegy, aubade, carpe diem, epistle, pastoral, satire, nocturne, ekphrastic poem, or dramatic monologue. Do not use the same genre you used in your first portfolio.

3) Turn in two copies of your accentual poem, one typed normally and one typed triple-spaced and scanned.

4) At your discretion, you may turn in one or two additional new poems in any form we have talked or read about thus far, including poems that experiment with these forms in novel ways.

The second section is for poems you have revised. It should include:

5) Revisions for at least three poems from the first half of the semester.
  • Alternatively, if you consider your early poems failures, you may turn in three new poems in forms from the first portfolio, but bear in mind that they should be highly finished at this point, not rough drafts.
6) For each revision, include a copy of the earlier version. If possible, use the copy I wrote comments on. If there is no such copy, use a copy one of your classmates wrote on. Label old and new versions clearly.

7) In both sections, include a header on each poem, so I know what form you are working with and whether I am looking at a new poem or a revision.

8) If you want your portfolio back, you must package it in a large mailing envelope, self-addressed and with postage attached. If you don't want to get your portfolio weighed at the post office, use a flat-rate Priority Mail envelope with correct postage. Portfolios without a mailer will be graded and then recycled.