Poetry Project #2
The Thing and Other Things
5 pts.
As for Project #1, you have a choice of several options for this project. The aim here is to get you thinking a bit about different modes of poetry and about petry and form—the relationship of form to content.
Option 1: The Mask
Write a poem in persona; that is, in the voice of another person, real or imaginary, familiar or unfamiliaar. Go for something interesting and challenging and aim to get as authentically inside of the character as you can. Don't just intellectualize the experience. Possibilities include: members of your family, a friend, a political or historical figure, an invented person, someone extremely different from you, or even an animal or object.
Option 2: In My Craft or Sullen Art
Write a sonnet, a sestina, or a villanelle. Or write a poem in blank verse, at least 40 lines long. (See Form and Poetry.)
Option 3: In My Craft or Sullen Art (II)
Make up your own fixed form for a poem, limiting yourself in terms of at least four of the following items:
1) number of lines per stanza
2) rhyme scheme
3) pattern of stresses in each line
4) pattern of syllables in each line
5) repeated words
6) repeated lines
7) mandatory words or phrases
First describe the rules of your invented form, then
write a poem accordingly.
Option 4: The Big Country
Take one of your already-completed free verse poems and rewrite it one to three times with completely different line and/or stanza breaks. (You might try completely arbitrary breaks, as well as breaks which adhere to some definite principle.) Reflect a bit on why you broke the lines the way you did in the original version, then consider what the rewrites do to help or harm the poem.
Hand in both the original, the rewrites, and a short-short essay (at least one typed, double-space page) discussing what happened to the piece in its new version. Be specific in your essay, drawing on our discussion of form in free verse for your reflective comments.
Option 5: Language that Sings
Write a really musical poem. Rely on assonance, consonance, alliteration, rhyme, near-rhyme, slant-rhyme, internal rhyme, pacing, effective lineation, verbal texture, rhythm, and possibly meter.
Option 6: Surrealist Poem
Write a surrealist poem. (We will discuss the definition of surrealism in class.) This poem must make unpredictable leaps, juxtapose disparate images and ideas, tap archetypes, include surprising metaphors and similes, and in general be nice and weird.
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 = below 2 pts. Poem either fails to meet any of the stated criteria, or demonstrates severe oversights or weaknesses in significant areas.