ENG 503 Children's Poetry
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
WEEK ONE | January 21 & 23, 2008
INTRODUCTION
WEEK TWO | January 28 & 30, 2008
Monday: Randall Jarrell, The Bat-Poet
Thomas, Poetry's Playground: Chapter Two
Wednesday: Jarrell & Thomas cont.
WEEK THREE | February 4 & 6, 2008: A Look Back
Monday: Philip, Oxford Book of Children's Verse: "Introduction" (pages xxv-xxxv); & read all selections pages 1-28.
Wednesday: Cont. above readings. Handouts: John Ciardi, "The Act of Language"; Thomas, "Children's Poetry."
WEEK FOUR | February 11 & 13, 2008: Still Looking Back: Romanticism & Lear
Monday: Philip, OBCV: all selections pages 29-45
Wednesday: Philip, OBCV: all selections pages 46-55
Check out this essay of mine (an old one) for a somewhat vulgar (I was young!) approach to blending ideological and formal criticism: Mel Glenn & Arnold Adoff: The Poetics of Power in the Adolescent Voice Lyric
WEEK FIVE | February 18 & 20, 2008: Victorian Verse: MacDonald, Rossetti, Carroll
Monday: Philip, OBCV: all selections pages 64-88
Presentation: Emily T. Myra Cohn Livingston, "The Poem on Page 81." From Only Connect.
Wednesday: Cont. above readings
Presentation: Trish H. Richard Flynn, "Can Children's Poetry Matter."
In case you missed it, here's that Mel Glenn & Arnold Adoff essay
WEEK SIX | February 25 & 27, 2008: Nursery Rhymes
Monday: Nursery Rhymes--Online readings: http://www.rhymes.org.uk/ (and bring in a collection or two of nursery rhymes you own, or a collection from the library); Philip, OBCV: Goodrich, "Higglety, Pigglety, Pop!" (page 25)
Read Handout: Theodore Roethke, "Some Remarks on Rhythm"
Wednesday: Cont. readings
!!First Response Paper Due By Today (Wednesday Feb 27)!!
WEEK SEVEN | March 3 & 5, 2008: Playground Rhymes
Monday: Thomas, Poetry's Playground, Chapter III: "Child Poets and the Poetry of the Playground"; Sherman & Weisskopf, Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts (all)
Group Two Poet Presentation: Jack Prelutsky, Pizza the Size of the Sun.
Wednesday: Cont. readings
Presentation: Eboni H. Morag Styles, "Romantic Visions" From the Garden to the Street.
WEEK EIGHT | March 10 & 12, 2008 : Domesticated Playground Rhymes
Monday: John Ciardi, You Read to Me, I'll Read to You. (all); Thomas, Poetry's Playground, Chapter IV: "Street Cries"
Presentation: Cinthia V. Morag Styles, "Capacity to Amuse" From the Garden to the Street.
Wednesday: John Ciardi cont.
WEEK NINE | March 17 & 19, 2008: Official School Poetry
Monday: Gary Soto, Fire in My Hands
Group Three Poet Presentation: Langston Hughes, The Dream Keeper.
Wednesday: Soto cont.
WEEK TEN | March 24 & 26, 2008: Shel Silverstein
Monday: Thomas, "Reappraising Uncle Shelby" (handout); Bring in Shel books from Library.
Presentation: Amy C. To Be Announced
Wednesday: Shel cont.
Presentation: Lindsey R. Ruth McDonald, Shel Silverstein "Trees and Lions and Prose"
WEEK TWELVE | April 7 & 9, 2008: Poet Laureate of Children's Poetry
Monday: Robert Frost. You Come Too; Thomas, Poetry's Playground, Chapter I: "Public Poetry and Politics"
Group Four Poet Presentation: Karen Hesse, Witness
Wednesday: Frost cont.
Second Response Paper Due By Today
WEEK THIRTEEN | April 14 & 16, 2008
Monday: Carl Sandburg, Early Moon.
Presentation: Lindsay V. To Be Announced
Wednesday: Sandburg cont.
WEEK FOURTEEN | April 21 & 23, 2008
Monday: Gwendolyn Brooks, Bronzeville Boys and Girls; Flynn, "'The Kindergarten of New Consciousness': Gwendolyn Brooks and the Social Construction of Childhood." African American Review 34.3 (Fall 2000): 483-499. (handout)
Group Five Poet Presentation: Paul Fleischman, Joyful Noise
Wednesday: Brooks cont.
Presentation: Kara J. Iona Opie, People in the Playground
WEEK FIFTEEN | April 28 & 30, 2008
Monday: OPEN: TO BE ANNOUNCED
Wednesday: OPEN: TO BE ANNOUNCED
Presentation: Marie S. Butler, Skipping Around the World, "Sex and Skipping."
WEEK SIXTEEN | May 5 & 7, 2008: Poetry Anthologies for Children
Monday: Bring in Anthologies for children; Thomas, "Coda"
Presentation: Kristy W. To Be Announced
Wednesday: Anthologies cont.
Third Response Paper Due By Today