English 770K

Canadian Poetry

Fall 1998

Instructor:	Neil Randall
Office:	HH 224
Office Hours:	Thursdays 11-1
Phone:	888-4567 x 3397
Email:	nrandall@uwaterloo.ca

Texts

Geddes, Gary, ed. 15 Canadian Poets X2. Toronto: OUP, 1990.

Schedule

Sep 15	Introductions and Discussions
Sep 22	Pratt, Scott
Sep 29	Klein, Layton
Oct 06	Birney, Livesay
Oct 13	Page, Avison
Oct 20	Souster, roundtable 1
Oct 27	Mandel, Webb
Nov 03	Atwood, Cohen
Nov 10	MacEwen, roundtable 2
Nov 17	Kroetsch, Bowering
Nov 24	No class
Dec 01	Ondaatje, roundtable 3
Dec 08	Bringhurst, Wallace

Assignments

30% (due throughout the term) -- Participation in mailing list: By week two, a mailing list will be in place on the university’s servers. All students must subscribe to the list (instructions to come in week 2), and must post messages of substance at least once per week. Simply posting a substantive message gets one mark; further participation gains more, up to a total of 2.5 marks per week (beginning week 2), or a total of 30 for all twelve weeks). Discussions must focus on the poets covered in the most recent class, but may of course include poets previously studied (but not those still to come). Commentary may be along the lines of class discussions, but that need not be the case.

30% (due Oct 20, Nov 10, Dec 1) -- A roundtable discussion of proposed changes to the selections included in the Geddes text. There will be three “roundtables” throughout the course. In each, a small group of students will present a proposal (reached by consensus within the group) to change the selections for one poet in the Geddes text. The group must read the poet’s oeuvre, decide on which poems should replace an equal number of poems currently in the text, and provide copies of those poems to the class the week preceding their roundtable. They will present their report in class, justifying their choices for both addition and deletion. The role of the class will be to listen skeptically and critically. The discussion will then open to the entire class, with all students free to agree or disagree with the choices. The poet chosen must be one studied in a previous class, and no two groups may choose the same poet. All students will already have read all the selections for that poet, in addition to the poems proposed for inclusion.

40% (due Tuesday, Dec 15, 2:30 p.m., HH 224) -- An essay of approximately 3500 words on an aspect of the work of one poet from the course text. Note that the poet cannot be the same one covered in your specific roundtable. You will be required to read widely in the poet’s work, and in the published criticism about that work. The precise topic is up to you, as is the theoretical basis for your argument, but you must clear both with the instructor before proceeding (by December 4 at the latest). PhD students will be expected to aim the paper at an academic journal of their choice (actual submission is not required), and to justify that choice in an appended note.