ENGL 225

Poetry (3 credits)

Instructor: John Cooper
Section: 001
Term: 1

The Art of Poetry

In the literature of every culture, poetry emerges before prose. It is so natural a mode of expression ancient peoples aren’t even aware that they are immersed in poetry until prose comes along for the differences to show. Today the situation is reversed: we are immersed in prose and see poetry as a specialized and/or deviant form of discourse. We even think we speak prose when we converse with others. Anthropology teaches us that poetry is closer than prose to the origins of language and speech, and, hence, to the origins of human culture. We might even say that poetry is a more elemental discourse than all others, a more complete expression of the sensuous, emotional, muscular, intellectual, and rhythmical nature of body and mind. Additionally, poetry is an art of words, i.e. words are its medium in the same way that the body moving in space is the medium of the art of dance, or sound, music. With poetry we read and listen in ways that are no longer familiar, no longer in the cultural air we breathe. That overstates the case a little. We do have poetry when we pay attention to the lyrics of songs or when we need to heighten or deepen our experience in the face of tragedy, death say, or, at the other end of human experience, in love or joy. The way some stand-up comedians use language also approaches the poetic. Denis Leary’s two minute rant about NyQuil is a good example. Check it out on YouTube (but don’t do it if you’re offended by the ‘f’ word or find talk about drugs and alcoholism offensive). Listen especially to his use of repetition (refrain?) and his modulation of different voices. Poetry attunes us to language and form; not only does it bring new awareness of the expressive possibilities of words, but it also tenders delight. All that it requires of us is to read and listen with greater attentiveness than usual.

The aims of the course are three-fold:

1. to help you become a stronger reader of poetry;
2. to introduce you to those aspects of the art that distinguish poetry from other forms of discourse;
3. to suggest ways of evaluating the merit of individual poems.

Assignments:

• Two shorter assignments.
• One longer assignment.
• Final examination.

Text:

• The Broadview Anthology of Poetry: Eds. Herbert Rosengarten and Amanda Goldrick-Jones.

Pre-requisite: 6.0 credits (completed) of First Year English, or completion of UBC's Arts One, Foundations, or Arts Studies 100 (ASTU).