ENG 727: Poetry & Childhood
Joseph T. Thomas, Jr.
email: jtthomas@mail.sdsu.edu
Class Meetings: 7:00pm-9:40pm, Wednesday
Office: AL 255
Class Room: SH-243A
Email: jtthomas@mail.sdsu.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday 11:30-12:30 and 3:30 to 4:30 (and by appointment)
!!!! IMPORTANT: Online Schedule !!!!
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This course is a seminar in U.S. poetry written for (and about) children. The success of a seminar depends on the students, so I expect you to attend every class session and participate. As the leader of this seminar, I have four principal duties:
That work will involve the careful reading and analysis of our primary texts, self-directed historical and theoretical research, in-class discussion based on that research, the writing of two critical questions composed with the aim of generating and directing conversation, and preparing a group presentation on a work and author on our syllabus and another, shorter group presentation on a poet of your choice not on our syllabus. Finally, you will produce a final, capstone project of your design or a conference-length paper. The subject of this course is twofold: childhood and poetry. Concerning ourselves with the form, content, and audience of a diverse selection of poetry aimed at or concerned with children, we will explore how the United States variously perceived, represented, and reimagined childhood. |
Texts (required):
Joe Brainard: I Remember [Paperback]
Ron Padgett (Editor), Joe Brainard (Author)
• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Granary Books (February 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887123482
• ISBN-13: 978-1887123488
$14.95You Read to Me, I'll Read to You by John Ciardi and Edward Gorey
• Publisher: HarperCollins; First Thus edition (August 28, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064460606
• ISBN-13: 978-0064460606
$7.99Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (Harvest Book) [Paperback]
T. S. Eliot
• Publisher: Mariner Books; Reprint edition (October 23, 1968)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156685701
• ISBN-13: 978-0156685702
$8.00You Come Too: Favorite Poems for Readers of All Ages [Paperback]
Robert Frost (Author)
• Publisher: Owlet Paperbacks; 2 Revised edition (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805069852
• ISBN-13: 978-0805069853
$11.95The Dream Keeper and Other Poems [Hardcover]
Langston Hughes (Author), Brian Pinkney (Illustrator)
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (November 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067984421X
• ISBN-13: 978-0679844211
$16.95The Bat-Poet by Randall Jarrell and Maurice Sendak
• Publisher: HarperCollins (October 25, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006205905X
• ISBN-13: 978-0062059055
$7.95Early Moon (A Voyager/Hbj Book) [Paperback]
Carl Sandburg (Author)
• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Sandpiper; 1 edition (April 18, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156273268
• ISBN-13: 978-0156273268
$14.00
Bronzeville Boys and Girls [Hardcover]
Gwendolyn Brooks (Author), Faith Ringgold (Illustrator)
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Amistad (December 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060295058
• ISBN-13: 978-0060295059
$16.99The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (March 12, 1957)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0717260593
• ISBN-13: 978-0717260591
• ASIN: 039480001X
$8.99All the Small Poems and Fourteen More (Sunburst Book) [Paperback]
Valerie Worth (Author), Natalie Babbitt (Illustrator)
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (October 29, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374403457
• ISBN-13: 978-0374403454
$7.95Poetry's Playground: The Culture of Contemporary American Children's Poetry (Landscapes of Childhood) [Paperback]
(I will donate the small amount of royalties I receive for the sale of my books to charity. It won't be much, but I don't want to profit by putting my little book on the syllabus)
Joseph T.; Jr. Thomas (Author)
• Publisher: Wayne State Univ Pr; annotated edition edition (February 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081433296X
• ISBN-13: 978-0814332962
Late Work:
Work will be turned in on the date due or not at all. We all have schedules, and it is imperative that we keep to them. However, I am not completely draconian. In extreme cases I may accept late work, but don't count on it.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is taking someone else's words, idea, or argument and claiming it as your own. Don't do it unless you have a interesting and rigorous intellectual or aesthetical reason. Cite all your sources unless you discuss your appropriation with me first. Instances of plagiarism designed to avoid intellectual work will earn you an F for the course, and, in egregious cases, may result in expulsion from the university. Please familiarize yourself with SDSU plagiarism policies, discussed in your handbook. Throughout the syllabus and my links page are links to many useful web sources. Do not take the words or ideas from any of these sources without providing the appropriate citations unless, again, you discuss your aims with me first. This goes for oral presentations as well as written work.
Assignments/Grade Distribution:
25%: Participation
20%: Critical Questions (10% each)
20%: Group Presentation
10%: Group Poet Presentation
25%: Final Project
Participation: (25%)
I expect you to come to class with something to say. In addition to researching the authors, think about when the books were published, reacquaint yourself with historical context that surrounds the work, its reception, etc. Make connections between the content of this course and others you have taken, and apply whatever theoretical, philosophical, or pedagogical rubrics you feel are appropriate (check out the children's literature, poetry, and theory links on my links page. And use print sources as well. The library is a wonderful place).
Critical Questions: 20% (10% each)
Your critical questions will engage the week's readings, framing them in the context of and in connection to previous readings. Your questions will be about 350 to 400 words, and should facilitate the discussion of an idea or problem or claim found in the readings. They are always due (via email) on or before the Tuesday evening before the class meeting in which we discuss the readings inspiring your question.
I will assign the week(s) your questions will cover on our second meeting.
Group Presentation: (20%)
In a group of two, you will select two books from our reading list and prepare two 20 to 25 minute presentations on it and the author. You will also prepare a one page handout outlining important information. The form of your presentation and of your handout is up to you. Ideally, your presentation will help us segue into our discussion of the work at hand.
Remember, you need to have at least twenty minutes of discussion planned. You can go over, but I'd like you to stay between 20 and 25 minutes if possible. So rehearse and plan. These should be tight, well planned, and to the point.
Also, Wikipedia is a fine project, but it can be unreliable at times. Use Wikipedia (I do!), but use it as one of several starting points. If you find information that contradicts what Wikipedia claims, verify that info and then correct Wikipedia. Remember: your reports should provide us with information and insights above and beyond that which is readily available online. That is, you should provide us with information and insight that emerges from rigorous research, not a cursory websearch.
Some topics you will want to cover: briefly, a bit about the author's life (related, as best you can, to the book at hand), the reception the book received when first published (find reviews from when the book was first published), note important essays about the book, and discuss how they might inform our understanding of the book, and relate the book to the theoretical essays we've read and those you've read on your own (or, say, in a theory class) in a rigorous, surprising way. You might also want to link the book you're presenting on to previous works we've read in class, in an attempt to show how the works inform one another.
There are seventeen presentations:
1) Sandburg, C. Early Moon (Feb 2)
2) Brooks, G. Bronzeville Boys and Girls or Jordan, J. Who Look at Me (Feb 2)
3) Hughes, L. The Dream Keeper and Other Poems (Feb 9)
4) Jarrell, R. The Bat-poet (Feb 16)
5) Eliot, T.S. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (Feb 23)
6) Stein, G. To Do: A Book of Alphabets and Birthdays (March 2)
7) Stein, G. The World is Round (March 2)
8) Schwitters, K. Lucky Hans and Other Merz Fairy Tales (March 9)
9) Adoff, A. Slow Dance Heart Break Blues (March 9)
10) Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts (Playground Poetry) (March 16)
11) Ciardi, J. You Read to Me, I'll Read to You (March 23)
12) Roethke, R. I Am! Says the Lamb! (March 23)
13) Dr. Seuss. The Cat in the Hat (April 6)
14) Gorey, E. Amphigorey (April 6)
15) Brainard, J. I Remember (April 13)
16) Koch, K. [Writings on Child as Poet: see me) (April 13)
17) Worth, V. All the Small Poems and Fourteen More (April 20)
Group Poet Presentation: (10%)
In a group of no more than three, you will prepare presentation of fifteen (15) minutes on a contemporary children's or adult poet of your choice who engages childhood in a way you find compelling. I would like you to concentrate your presentation on one book by your author, although you may, of course, allude to other collections your author has written. In your presentation you will outline the dominant aesthetic and ideology apparent in the book. More on this in class.
You will also compose a cut-up poem using your book. These will be poems of about one or two pages, which highlight (or mock?) the language, ideas, and themes of the book by using that language exclusively. Simply write down phrases, words, sentences from the poems, the cover, copyright page--anywhere--and craft a poem from them. Be prepared to talk about and rationalize the choices you made, and bring in copies for everyone.Remember, you need to have fifteen minutes of discussion planned. You can go over, if slightly, but I'd like you to stay within the fifteen minute time frame as best as you can. So rehearse and plan. These should be tight, well planned, and to the point. You should also prepare a handout outlining your major points and serving as a reference tool for your classmates (that is, you may want to include biographical information, point to critical works concerning your poet, and/or a bibliography of your poet's major works).
POETRY BOOKS (in random order):
Life Studies: Robert Lowell Out of the Dust : Karen Hesse Wishing Bone And Other Poems : Mitchell, Stephen The Disappearing Alphabet : Richard Wilbur Elegy On The Death Of César Chávez : by Rudolfo Anaya Where The Sidewalk Ends : The Poems & Drawings Of Shel Silverstein Harlem : A Poem : by Walter Dean Myers Someone Could Win a Polar Bear : John Ciardi You Know Who : John Ciardi Did Adam Name the Vinegarroon? X. J. Kennedy The New Kid On The Block : by Jack Prelutsky Something Big Has Been Here : Jack Prelutsky Spin A Soft Black Song : Poems For Children : by Nikki Giovanni Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices : Walter Dean Myers The Man in the Moon-Fixer's Mask : JonArno Lawson Carver, A Life In Poems : Marilyn Nelson
My Life: Lyn Hejinian (If you'd like to present on a collection not provided here, which is perfectly cool, let me know.)
Final Project: (25%)
Your final project will probably involve an extended, researched exploration of the work of a single poet or book of poetry, although any sort of analysis or investigation appropriate to the subject of our course is acceptable. Final papers in this fashion should be thesis-driven, conference-ready paper, and be around ten (10) to twelve (12) pages.
I also allow students the flexibility to craft their own final projects. If you choose to prepare an unconventional project, you need to prepare a written proposal, explaining the academic and creative worth of the project and how it relates to the subject matter we've been exploring over the semester.