Poetry Project #1

The Thing Itself

5 pts.

Not ideas about the thing but the thing itself — Wallace Stevens

No ideas but in things. — W.C. Williams

Your have a choice of four options for this project. In each case, the emphasis is on clear, specific, vivid, concrete, sensory DETAIL. Avoid generalities, abstraction, and clichés in this project like the plague !!!

Option 1:  Doomed Republics

Write a free verse poem about some significant, puzzling, terrifying, or otherwise intriguing event, person, or place in your childhood.  Rely almost exclusively on concrete language and images, letting the details speak for themselves.  Do not editorialize about your subject or explain it; simply describe or reenact it as accurately and as vividly as you can, using your senses. 

If necessary, review/look up definitions of "concrete," "specific," "abstract," and "general." These words are used in a specific way when applied to literary writing.

Be sure especially to avoid sentimentality: writing which evokes predictable, obvious, and pre-digested emotion; writing which is trite, cheesey, or cute; writing in which emotion is "unearned" or "in excess of its object." Write a poem instead which discovers NEW feelings and surprises your reader (and yourself).

For some models, read Simic, Ponge, Bishop, Stafford.

Option 2: The Luminous Object

At the risk of appearing foolish, a writer sometimes needs to be able to just stand and gape at this or that thing—a sunset or an old shoe—in absolute and simple amazement.

(Ray Carver, "On Writing.")

Write a free verse poem about an object. Describe it with as much specific, intense, concrete detail as possible, using all of your senses.  Keep reflection and explanations to a minimum. Simply make the object vivid and present through language, respecting its thingness. Help your reader (and yourself) see "the thing itself."

It might be interesting (but isn't mandatory) to imagine your chosen object from some very unusual perspective—that of an animal, for instance, or someone from another country or planet. (An English 322 student once wrote about a rifle, for example, from the perspective of a deer, calling it "a branch that barks." )

Another tip: pick an object which intrigues you or puzzles you or even bugs you in some way. DO NOT pick something whose meanings to you are obvious.

Grading scale for all poetry projects:

Outstanding = A = 5 pts.. Meets all of the stated criteria and instructions exceptionally well. Excels in inventiveness, originality, and energy, relative to work produced generally in 323. Well-edited and proofed. Possibly publishable.

Very Good =B = 4 pts. Meets all of the stated criteria and instructions, or meets several of them exceptionally well, despite a weak performance with others.. May be especially striking in spots, despite noticeable flaws. Very competent, but may lack originality or inventiveness, relative to work produced generally in 323. Good attention to style and mechanics. Clear attention to assignment.

Fair=C = 3 pts.. Meets some of the stated criteria, or meets all of them only partially. Uninspired but minimally competent; or very inspired but lacking competence in key areas.. May show some inattention to, or misunderstanding of, instructions. Weak proofreading and editing.

Poor = D = 2 pts. Meets few of the criteria. May not not heed or understand instructions. May be sloppy, unproofed, unedited, and/or very perfunctory and uninspired.. An unsatisfying poem, saved by at least minimal attention to at least one facet of the piece.

Unacceptable = F = less than 2 pts. Poem either fails to meet any of the stated criteria, or demonstrates severe oversights or weaknesses in significant areas.

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