English 435/5535, Spring 2009

Advanced Creative Writing:  Poetry

M 5:30 to 8:15 p.m.

Robert Stewart, New Letters & English dept.

[There is] only one problem in the whole world -- to restore spiritual meaning to people's lives – to reawaken their capacity for spiritual disquiet . . . .  It is impossible to survive on refrigerators, politics, balance sheets, and crossword puzzles, you see.  It is impossible.  It is impossible to live without poetry and color and love.

-- Antoine de St. Exupery, from a letter left in his barracks on the day he disappeared, 1944, piloting his plane for the Free French Forces in preparation for the Allied invasion of southern France.

In Advanced Poetry Writing, we have an opportunity to spend the semester reading great poems and writing them, discussing poetry as craft and as a means of transcendence.  This is an advanced poetry workshop that includes intensive reading of contemporary poetry, with the aim that each student will create a portfolio of publishable poems; the course includes readings in modern and contemporary poetry, discussions of the creative process, intense work on language and craft, and individual consultations.  The focus of the course will vary to address a variety of topics such as metaphor and closure; imitation and the line; form and voice.  May be repeated once for credit.  Prerequisite: For Undergraduates Restrictions: English 315 or equivalent.