Writing 100 Class Website
 

Poetry: Recent Summary

Lectures and class discussions outline such basic elements as the poetic line, figurative language, diction, form, and sound devices. Poems will be studied in depth and discussed from the point of view of a writer who passionately revises, rather than a critic or literary historian. The focus will be on how great poems are built. You will be required to write three poems, as well as participate in the occasional writing activity during class time. Your grade for written work will be based upon how well you have met the specific requirements of the assignment and how well you perform in such areas as imaginative content, the use of figurative language, diction, form, and the poem’s overall cohesion. At least one of the classes will be based on a discussion of student poems in order for you to become acquainted with the basics of effective editorial criticism and the process of revision. An exam will test your grasp of key terms and concepts.
 

Click to Download the 2009/10 Course Syllabus (pdf)
 

Writing Samples

Here are some examples of “A-level” poems submitted by Department of Writing students at various stages in their studies.
 
Hockey Sticks by Darius Kinney
Sao Paulo by Kyeren Regehr
Carnegie, Manitoba by Josh Szczepanowski
My Mother and Father in Greece by Stephanie Warner
Out Here by Matt Gulka