ENGL 6140: Studies in Poetry Writing

Rose McLarney
Office Hours: 9:00-10:00, 12:00-2:00, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays
and by appointment at other times, as needed
Morrill Hall 201B
rose.mclarney@okstate.edu
405-744-6221 (email preferred)

Syllabus
Course Materials
Current and back issues of a literary journal from the Pushcart Prizes top 50 list
(http://cliffordgarstang.com/?p=4329).
Printing: You must photocopy or print multiple copies of poems for distribution to classmates, so
budget for this.
Course Description___________________________________________________________________
This course is designed to focus class time on workshop. So your primary work will be writing and
revising 2 poems per week and providing critical responses to your peers work.
But to keep up our reading practices, which are essential to every writer, each student will choose a
literary journal from the supplied list to analyze. You will read a years worth of issues of your journal
and make a presentation to the class on the stylistic currents you observe in the publication and how it
may define its identity. These presentations will allow us to better understand the environment in which
we are currently writing; provide some practical guidance for submissions; and invite a broader
discussion of how are tastes are shaped and how we may anticipate their evolutions. As poets whose work
is moving towards the elusive condition of being finished, these discussions can inform creative processes
as they invite us to consider our own aesthetics and influences.
At the beginning of the course, you will be asked to articulate a poetic project you have in mind for the
semester.
Grading____________________________________________________________________________
This is a graduate class so I do not grade assignments. But here are some general ideas of how I will
judge your progress in the class.
-40% preparation and participation
-30% portfolio
-20% poems in progress
-10% presentation on a literary magazine
Assignments__________________________________________________________________________
Workshop
You will draft new poems each week to share with the class in workshop. You will then take these poems
through multiple, exhaustive revisions on your own. For each workshop session, submit 2 poems,
arranged in order of preference (so that we are sure to get to the work that is most important to you). At
least 1 of these must be a new poem each time. The others may be revised work, if the revision is a true,
transformative re-envisioning.

Because this course is over-enrolled, I will time discussion of each poets work. To prepare to workshop
others poems, write detailed commentary on every poem in advance. Workshop comments should be
coherent, constructive, and fully articulated. If you do not bring poems to class when they are due, you
cannot expect us to respond to work distributed through email or to mail boxes.
If you would like additional feedback from me, you are welcome to make an appointment to meet in my
office.
Presentation
You will choose a journal from the Pushcart Prizes list of the top 50 poetry publications and read at least
a year of issues. You are responsible for seeking out the back issues, whether you order them, read them
online, or access them through the library. So be sure to choose not only a journal that interests you, but a
project you can complete by your assigned due date. As you read, take notes for a roughly 15-minute-long
presentation to the class on the stylistic currents you observe in the publication. (See more detail on what
to address in the course description and in the online classroom.) At the class meeting prior to the day you
are assigned to present, supply handouts of a selection of 6 or more representative poems from the
publication you have studied. Discussion of a poem or poems in the packet may be a substantial part of
your presentation. It should also include considerations and guidelines for submitting to the magazine and
an accompanying submissions handout.
Portfolio
The final portfolio will contain a letter and 6 or more poems. Each poem must be accompanied by a first
draft, to illustrate the steps in revision through which you have taken the work. Collect all your materials
in a well-organized folder with the order of drafts indicated. The point of the portfolio is less to showcase
your best work than to evidence your creative progress over the course of the semester.
The letter will guide me through the portfolio, describing your revision process and assessing your own
project. Discuss your body of work as we may have discussed the literary journals, addressing influences
and aesthetics. Did you write in a particular style, or are you still exploring your range? Did you complete
the poetic project you defined at the beginning of the semester, or find yourself in new territory? (No is
not necessarily the wrong answer to these questions.)
Attendance____________________________________________________________________
Your attendance is expected at every class session. However, to accommodate illness and other issues,
you may miss as many as 3 classes, if necessary. I do not accept sick notes; 3 absences are allowed,
regardless of the cause. Absences in excess of 3 will reduce your final grade by 1 letter. Miss 6 or more
classes and you will fail the course.
If weather makes it unsafe to travel to campus and we cannot hold class, we will try to keep the course on
schedule by emailing feedback to the poets scheduled to be workshopped.
Accommodations_______________

_____________________________________

Students who need special accommodations should contact Student Disability Services to
determine appropriate strategies and resources. Please notify me of the support services
identified for you and provide relevant documentation within the first week of class.

Date

Class

Assignments
Reading
(due at the
(to be completed before class meets to
beginning of class discuss them on the date listed)
on the date listed)

Week 1
Jan. 14

Welcome

Jan. 16

Speed Workshop

-Email a poem
from a previous
semester with a
question for your
readers to all by
midnight on
January 14
-Comments on
your project for
the semester
-Copies of 2 of
your poems for
everyone in the
class

-Workshop - Group 1
-Reading discussion

-Workshop
feedback
-Choice of
literary magazine
Workshop
feedback

-Handout: from The Pushcart Prize

anthology

-Handout: from The Best American

Poetry

-the last week of poems from Poetry

Daily
(December 27-January 3)
-online featured poems from the current
issue of Poetry

Week 2
Jan. 21

Jan. 23

-Workshop Group 2
-Reading discussion

-Handout: from The Boston Review:

Poetry on the Brink

Week 3
Jan. 28

-Workshop Group 3
-Reading discussion

Jan. 30

- Workshop -Group 1
-Reading discussion

-Workshop
feedback
-Copies of 3 of
your poems for
everyone in class
Workshop
feedback

-Workshop - Group 2
-Reading discussion

Workshop
feedback

- Workshop Group
3
-Reading discussion

Workshop
feedback

Week 4
Feb. 4
Feb. 6

-Handout: from Pleiades: Pavilions of

Brio

Week 5
Feb. 11

Feb. 13

Week 6
Feb. 18

Feb. 20
Week 7
Feb. 25

Feb. 27

Week 8
Mar. 4
Mar. 7

TERM 2

-Workshop Group 1
-Student presentation
1

-Workshop
feedback
-Copies of 3 of
your poems for
everyone in class
Workshop
feedback,
comments on
reading

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

-Workshop - Group 3 -Written self

-Student presentation assessment of
3
progress toward
semester goals
-Workshop
feedback
-Copies of 3 of
your poems for
everyone in class
-Workshop Group 1 Workshop
-Student presentation feedback
4

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

-Workshop Group 2
-Student presentation
5

-Workshop
feedback
-Copies of 3 of
your poems for
everyone in class
-Workshop
feedback
-Copies of 3 of
your poems for
everyone in class

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

Workshop
feedback

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

Workshop
feedback

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

-Workshop Group 2
-Student presentation
2

-WorkshopGroup 3
-Student presentation
6

-Workshop - Group 1
-Student presentation
7
-Workshop Group 2
-Student presentation
8

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

Date

Class

Week 9
Mar. 18- ****SPRING
20
BREAK****
Week 10
Mar. 25 -Workshop Group 3
-Student presentation
9

Mar. 27

-Workshop Group 1
-Student presentation
10

Week 11
Apr. 1
-Workshop - Group 2
-Student presentation
11
Apr. 3

-Workshop Group 3
-Student presentation
12

Week 12
Apr. 8
-Portfolio workshop 1
-Student presentation
13
Apr. 10 -Portfolio workshop 2
-Student presentation
14
Week 13
Apr. 15 -Portfolio workshop 3
-Student presentation
15
Apr. 17 -Portfolio workshop 4
-Student presentation
16

Assignments

Reading

-Copies of 3 of
your poems for
everyone in
class
-Written
workshop
feedback
Workshop
feedback

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

Workshop
feedback

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

-Workshop
-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter
feedback
-*PORTFOLIO,
enough copies
for everyone in
class
Written
feedback on
portfolios
Written
feedback on
portfolios

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

Written
feedback on
portfolios
-Written
feedback on
portfolios
-*FINAL
PORTFLIO
DUE*

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

-Lit. mag. handout, provided by presenter

Week 14
Apr. 22
Apr. 24
Week 15
Apr. 29
May 1

Conferences
Conferences
Conferences
Conferences