Response Suggestions

"What do you think of the poem? Give as much detail as you can as to why you feel the way you do. What does the poem sound like, what does it remind you of? Quote specific lines or phrases that seem relevant."

Being specific is the hardest part of this assignment and I almost always request descriptions of the form and style of the different poems: which can be as simple as a description of the visual shape of the poem, its length, the type of lines (long, short, metrical, enjambed), the sort of style or rhetoric or vocabulary (unusual, common, pastoral, urban, urbane, fast-paced, slow-moving, pictorial, bombastic, introspective, descriptive, narrative, fragmentary, etc.). >>>>> The point is not for you to analyze or explain the poem but rather to try to react to it. Cataloging the features of the poem won't explain it but it may enable you to enter into the poem more fully.

Here are alternate ways of responding:

oOf the poems read for this week, which is your favorite? Why? Which is the best. Why? Are favorite and best the same? Rank the poems in your order of preference.

oOf the poems read for this week, which did you like least? Why?

oOf the poems read for this week, which is the worst. Why? What are your criteria for deciding the quality of poem. Can poems that you don't like or understand still be good poems?

oPick one poem. Describe (or catalog) its features. What kind of vocabulary does the poem use? What kind of diction or syntax is used? What is the mood of the poem? What is the most unusual feature of the poem? What does the poem sound like - give some examples of sound patterns in the poem. Detail any literary "devices" used.

oCompare poems in terms of continuity (hypotactic) / discontinuity (paratactic); fragmentation / unified; symmetrical/asymmetrical, smooth flowing / jerky or abrupt movement.

oDetail the connection between the elements of a poem: expository (a discursive argument), narrative (temporal sequence of beginning, middle end), associative, surreal or dream-like, disjunctive, etc.

oDo you see anything that all the poems assigned for this week have in common?

oHow does the set of poems for this week differ from the poems from last week?

oWhat issues of poetics - how a poem means or how it is made - are brought up by the readings. What were some of the issues raised along this line in last week's class discussion?

o[Try this one sometime after midsemester] Looking back on your previous responses, have you changed your opinions about any poems. How?

[[[[[It is not necessary, or practical, for you to comment on every assigned poem. But if you choose to focus on one poet or poem, or to do the experiments, preface your response with a very quick take on the reading overall (likes/dislikes, general features, etc.).]]]]]]

oTry imitating the style of the poem, or parodying it. Try the wreading experiments!

oTo become more involved with the writing, try typing out some of the poems and include your reactions to that process. Read poems aloud to friends, relatives, or whomever, and report on your and their reactions. Write poems in response to the poems.

oKeep a running account of your reaction to the class as whole - what's working, what's interesting, what's not. After each class, write a paragraph describing your reactions to the discussions that took place.

oInclude the contexts in which you are reading or writing in your notebook. Where are you? What's your mood, what's on your mind? How do the poems affect or interact with that, if at all?

oInclude, if you like, "diary" material about your life or general or poetic observations, interspersed with comments about the readings. Don't be afraid to go off on tangents, associated thoughts. Include shopping lists, dreams, travel notes, etc.

In addition to the general responses discussed above, your weekly assignments might include these four elements: 1. Write about some poetry or fiction not discussed in class. 2. Pick one poem or fiction piece from the readings and keep a running commentary on it - that is, write about this same piece several times over the course of the term. 3. At least once in the semester, compare or contrast a piece by two different authors and two by the same author (from the assigned readings). This extended critique could easiy be several pages long. Of course, you may wish to do any of these several times in the course of the term.

** Let me here credit and thank Charles Bernstein for my liberal borrowing of his useful reading and writing ideas. Please spend time browsing all he's offering us here.