UPDATE 18 FEB 2014

For Thursday's class session, please read the third excerpt from James Longenbach's The Resistance to Poetry (i.e. Chapter III: Forms of Disjunction) and the Philip Larkin essay "The Pleasure Principle."

As with the previous reading assignments, please come prepared for a short quiz at the beginning of class and a discussion of the texts.

Both essays can be found on Blackboard.

Research Proposal & Annotated Bibliography

DUE DATES: 18 March 2014 (Proposal) / 03 APRIL 03 2014 (Annotated Bibliography)

POINT ALLOTMENT: 20 Points

For this assignment, you will write a brief proposal that outlines the focus of your research and compile an annotated bibliography that contains the sources you will use for your final research essay.

PROPOSAL:

The proposal is a type of promise (to yourself and your instructors) that will guide you through the research process and development of a research-based argument. In all likelihood, as you conduct your research, your topic will modify in some way. This is perfectly acceptable and is, in fact, normal.

A wide variety of disciplines and professions use proposals as a means of developing agendas for research communities, securing funding for studies, publicizing plans for inquiry, and field research, and testing the interest of potential audiences in a given project. Therefore, the genre, organization, and contents of the research proposal differ in many important ways from other types popular and academic writing. In the proposal, you need to explain your interest in your chosen subject and establish a set of questions to guide your inquiry.

Your proposal for this course should contain the following elements:

1) An introduction that clearly states and describes your topic, outlines your purpose, and identifies the conversation you’ve entered. You should develop a working thesis; this tentative statement will help you navigate sources more effectively and assist with time management. But remember” be prepared to change your thesis as often as an honest interpretation of the data demands.

2) Provide background on your topic and what you know so far. Acknowledging how little you know can be an effective rhetorical move, for it demonstrates your need to conduct research. Of course, you should undertake preliminary research that you will incorporate and properly site in this section. Therefore, please integrate 2-3 reputable and relevant sources in your proposal.

3) Identify a series of research question that will inform your project and explain them in your proposal. While you, no doubt, will pose some general questions, make sure that you develop a series of specific and relevant (thus helpful) question in order to guide and focus your next stage of research.

4) Determine and articulate the purpose or goal of this research: Why are you researching this particular topic? Why do you feel compelled to study this topic further? Whom do you hope to persuade? What is the significance of this work?

This aspect of your assignment should be approximately three pages in length, double-spaced and typed in 12-point, Times New Roman font.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

You will follow your proposal with an annotated bibliography, which is a list of MLA-style citations for books, articles, websites, etc. Each citation is followed by a paragraph-long description and evaluation of the source.

Before you begin writing your annotated bibliography, you will need to narrow down your research topic. A good annotated bibliography includes only those sources that directly relate to your narrowed, focused research question. To this extent, you want to ask yourself: What specific questions do I have about my topic that I would like to answer through research? Any one of those questions would likely be a suitable research topic.

Once you have decided on a focused research question, you may begin collecting sources for your annotated bibliography. The bibliography itself will consist of eight secondary sources, which are listed below by type (along with the rules to follow). You must have eight sources:

At least two books: this includes anthologies, but not books printed solely on the Internet (i.e. if the book is online, it must have appeared in print first).

At least four essays or articles from journals, magazines or newspapers: You should find these in databases, and if there is a link to full text, that’s okay. Otherwise, use Inter-Library Loan or get them out at our library.

As mentioned previously, each source in an annotated bibliography requires the following material:

First, describe or summarize the main points made in the book, article, on the webpage, etc. You should discuss the central theme of the source, the thesis, the audience it is trying to reach (if possible), etc.

Second, you will need to evaluate the source. Your evaluation should include why the source and the author are credible, how the source is relevant to your narrowed research question, and how you evaluate the source (i.e. Is it good, bad, boring, interesting, too simple, too complex, etc?)

While you may include the texts we've read in this course in your final essay, please do not include them in your annotated bibliography. The sources you summarize and evaluate should stem from your own, independent research on your specific topic.

This aspect of your assignment should be approximately eight pages in length, double-spaced and typed in 12-point, Times New Roman font.

Each of the sources must be formatted to MLA specifications.

Heather Christle Reading

What: Heather Christle Poetry Reading and Discussion
Date: Thursday, 13 February 2014
Time: 6:00pm – 7:15pm
Location: Case Western Reserve University
Room: Clarke Hall, Room 206 (map)

In conjunction with the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, the Helen B. Sharnoff Poetry Fund, and the SAGES and English Departments, please join us for an evening of poetry with Heather Christle.

Christle will read from her collection The Trees The Trees (Octopus Books, 2011), as well as other work. Her performance will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

This event is free and open to the public.

It would be very much appreciated if you could spread this announcement and/or word of the event over the course of the next few days.

Heather Christle is the author of What Is Amazing (Wesleyan University Press, 2012), The Difficult Farm (Octopus Books, 2009), and The Trees The Trees (Octopus Books, 2011), which won the 2012 Believer Poetry Award. Her poems have appeared in publications including Boston Review, Gulf Coast, The New Yorker, and The Best American Poetry. She has taught poetry at Antioch College, Sarah Lawrence College, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Emory University, where she was the 2009-2011 Poetry Writing Fellow. She is the Web Editor for jubilat and frequently a writer in residence at the Juniper Summer Writing Institute. A native of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, she lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

UPDATE: 07 FEB 2014

For next class session, please read Heather Christle's The Trees The Trees (Octopus Books, 2011) and be prepared to discuss the collection.

Additionally, you will need to turn in a hard-copy of a typed, two-page, double-space response to the book. Your response essay should engage Christle's book using one of the critical articles, essays, or chapters we've read so far this semester. To do so, please look at how writers such as Stephen Burt, James Longenbach, Richard Archambeau, or Elisa Gabbert critically engage with a poem. Think of their writing as a model for how you can approach Christe's book. Ultimately, you'll want to provide a close reading of one of two poems in the collection that are emblematic of The Trees The Tree's broader concerns or aesthetic traits.

In addition to being two-pages, double-spaced and typed, your responses should be in 12-point Times New Roman font with standard one inch margins. You name should appear in the top, right-hand corner and the essay should be formatted according to MLA-stlye guidelines. To this end, you should be properly quoting  both Chistle's book and at least one of the articles.

By Wednesday at 4pm, everyone should email three questions that they would like to ask Christle after her reading. These questions should engage her poems and the critical readings directly; moreover, they should be formed in such a manner that they will prompt extended discussion, not just "Yes" or "No" answers. I will read over your questions and provide feedback for how they can be improved. You will be expected to ask all the poets questions after their readings.

On Thursday, instead of having a regular class session, Heather Christle will be reading. I will provide more information regarding the reading in Tuesday's class session.

Matt Hart Poetry Reading

What: Matt Hart Poetry Reading and Discussion

Date: Thursday, 06 February 2014

Time: 6:00pm – 7:15pm

Location: Case Western Reserve University

Room: Guilford Hall Parlor 206 (map)

--Please note that this reading will not be held in the same room as last week's reading.

Join us for an evening of poetry with Matt Hart. He will read from her most recent collection Debacle Debacle (H_ NGM_N Books, 2013), as well as other work. His performance will be followed by a question-and-answer session. This event is free and open to the public. It would be very much appreciated if you could spread this announcement and/or word of the event over the course of the next few days.

Matt Hart is the author of five books of poems, Who's Who Vivid (Slope Editions, 2006), Wolf Face (H_NGM_N Books, 2010), Light-Headed (BlazeVOX, 2011), Sermons and Lectures Both Blank and Relentless (Typecast Publishing, 2012), and Debacle Debacle (H_NGM_N Books, 2013), as well as several chapbooks. Additionally, his poems, reviews, and essays have appeared in numerous print and online journals, including Big Bell, Cincinnati Review, Coldfront, Columbia Poetry Review, H_NGM_N, Harvard Review, jubilat, Lungfull!, and Post Road, among others. His awards include a Pushcart Prize, a 2013 individual artist grant from The Shifting Foundation, and fellowships from both the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers. A co-founder and the editor-in-chief of Forklift, Ohio: A Journal of Poetry, Cooking & Light Industrial Safety, he lives in Cincinnati where he teaches at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and plays in the band TRAVEL.

UPDATE: 31 JAN 2014

For next class session, please read Matt Hart's Debacle Debacle (H_NGM_N Books, 2013) and be prepared to discuss the collection.

Additionally, you will need to turn in a hard-copy of a typed, two-page, double-space response to the book. Your response essay should engage Hart's book using one of the critical articles, essays, or chapters we've read so far this semester. To do so, please look at how writers such as Stephen Burt, James Longenbach, or Elisa Gabbert critically engage with a poem. Think of their writing as a model for how you can approach Hart's book. Ultimately, you'll want to provide a close reading of one of two poems in the collection that are emblematic of Debacle Debacle's broader concerns or aesthetic traits.

In addition to being two-pages, double-spaced and typed, your responses should be in 12-point Times New Roman font with standard one inch margins. You name should appear in the top, right-hand corner and the essay should be formatted according to MLA-stlye guidelines. To this end, you should be properly quoting  both Hart's book and at least one of the articles.

By Wednesday at 4pm, everyone should email three questions that they would like to ask Hart after his reading. These questions should engage his poems and the critical readings directly; moreover, they should be formed in such a manner that they will prompt extended discussion, not just "Yes" or "No" answers. I will read over your questions and provide feedback for how they can be improved. You will be expected to ask all the poets questions after their readings.

On Thursday, instead of having a regular class session, Matt Hart will be reading. I will provide more information regarding the reading in Tuesday's class session.

Catherine Wing Poetry Reading

What: Catherine Wing Poetry Reading and Discussion

Date: Thursday, 30 January 2014

Time: 6:00pm – 7:15pm

Location: Case Western Reserve University

Room: Clarke Hall 206 (map)

Please join us for an evening of poetry with Catherine Wing. She will read from her most recent collection Gin & Bleach (Sarabande Books, 2012), as well as other work. Her performance will be followed by a question-and-answer session. This event is free and open to the public. It would be very much appreciated if you could spread this announcement and/or word of the event over the course of the next few days.

Catherine Wing was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and attended Brown University before earning her MFA from the University of Washington. Her collections of poetry include Enter Invisible (2005), nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and Gin & Bleach (2012). Her poetry has appeared in such journals as Poetry, the Nation, and the Chicago Review and has been featured in a number of anthologies, including Best American Poetry (2010). Wing has received fellowships and residencies from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and teaches poetry at Kent State.