General Expectations and Requirements

     Of course, the primary requirement of this class will be that you write poems. I will give you eight different assignments or prompts, and will require you to write poems that develop from them. I will also ask that you revise at least four of the poems that you write during the course of the quarter. 

To help you write and revise more effectively, I'm going to ask you to do a number of other things as well. They are:

  1. Work in peer critique groups responding to one another's poems;
  2. Memorize and recite for the class 3 poems of at least 15 lines in length (you should have your first poem memorized by the fourth week of the quarter);
  3. Present to the class  (in groups of 3 or 4) a line by line analysis of a poem of your choice (and of at least 15 lines in length); 
  4. Read the assigned materials in Strand and Boland; and 
  5. Contribute to class discussions.
Also, because computers offer multiple occasions for distraction, I ask that you use the computers for class work only once class has started. If you should find yourself with time on your hands, say, between peer critiques, you may work on anything related to the course, including writing poems, revising poems, and exploring some of the poetry web sites linked to our course web site. When we are working with material on the computer as a class, that material should be all that's open on your desktop.