Module Code and Title:       LIT315 From Sonnet to Song: Understanding Poetry

Programme:                          BA in English Studies

Credit Value:                         12

Module Tutor:                       Sonam Deki, Vanlallawmkimi, Tshering Choden   

Module Coordinator:            Sonam Deki   

General objective: This module aims to introduce students to different forms of poetry across the ages such as sonnets, epics, mock epics, metaphysical poems, odes, elegies, war poems, and haiku. Students will learn to identify the structure, rhyme scheme, rhythm and subject matter of the different poems that they read. The module offers poems belonging to the same sub-genre by poets from different eras so that students can enjoy and appreciate the timelessness of these modes of personal expressions.

Learning outcomes – On completion of this module, learners should be able to:

1. Differentiate various forms of poetry.
2. Analyse the poems from different perspectives and standpoints.
3. Make inter-textual comparisons between texts belonging to the same sub-genre.
4. Identify the form, rhyme scheme and meter by scanning lines of poetry.
5. Connect movements in poetry to greater developments in arts and literature.
6. Describe the relationship between form and meaning in poetry.
7. Explain a poem through close readings of figurative expressions.

Learning and Teaching Approach:

Assessment Approach:

A. Written assignment: Portion of Final Marks: 20%

Students will write a critical response of 700 to 1000 words on two or more poems. The first draft will be marked out of 5%, and the final submission out of 15%, of which 5% percent will be allotted to specific improvements made on the feedback received on the first draft. Students are expected to correctly cite any secondary references.  Assessment will be based on the ‘Analytical Writing’ rubric.

B. Presentation: Portion of Final Mark: 20%

Students will be required to make inter-textual comparisons between poems in the same sub-genres and present their findings in groups of approximately 4 members. Each individual student will present a part of the work. Each group will be assigned a group mark (10%) and an individual mark (10%). The duration of each individual presentation will be 5-7 minutes. Assessment will be based on the ‘Oral Tasks’ rubric.

C. Haiku Composition: Portion of Final Marks: 10%

Students will compose two pieces of haiku in class (5% each). Assessment will be based on ‘Creative Writing’ rubric.

D. Class participation and preparedness: Portion of Final Mark: 10%

Students will be expected to participate substantially in class discussions, with contributions reflecting adequate preparation for topics under discussion. 5% of class participation and preparedness will be graded before mid-term, and the remaining 5% post midterm.  Assessment will be based on the ‘Participation and Preparedness’ rubric.

E. Midterm Examination: Portion of Final Mark: 10%

Students will take a written exam of 1.5 hr duration covering topics up to the mid-point of the semester.

Pre-requisites: LIT101 Life in Verse: Themes in Contemporary Poetry, LIT104 The Social and Literary Context: Anglo-Saxon to Restoration Period and LIT209 The Social and Literary Context: 18^th to 20^th Century Literature.

Subject matter:

1. Tutor will encourage students to bring lozays to class to introduce poetry and as a part of a class activity.
2. Haiku
   • Close reading and analysis of selective haikus by Matsuo Basho
   • Close reading and analysis of selective haikus by Jack Kerouac
   • Features of Haiku
3. Sonnet
   • Close reading and analysis of Sir Philip Sidney’s Sonnet 1 from Astrophel and Stella
   • Close reading and analysis of Robert Frost’s Into My Own
   • The origin of sonnet
   • Sonnet Sequence
   • Structure of a sonnet
   • Poetic meter and rhyme scheme
   • Analysis of Sir
4. Epic and Mock epic
   • Close reading and analysis of excerpts from Milton's Paradise Lost Book 1
   • Close reading and analysis of excerpts from Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock
   • Characteristics of an epic: Epic Conventions
   • Characteristics of the Mock Epic
   • Comparative study of an epic and mock epic
5. Metaphysical poetry
   • Close reading and analysis of Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress
   • Close reading and analysis of Yehuda Amichai's Inside an Apple
   • Characteristics of Metaphysical poetry
   • Themes and Metaphors
6. Elegy
   • Close reading and analysis of Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
   • Close reading and analysis of Seamus Heaney's Elegy to a Still Born Child
   • What is an elegy?
   • Pathos
7. Odes
   • Close reading and analysis of John Keats' Ode to a Nightingale
   • Close reading and analysis of Pablo Neruda's Ode to an Onion
   • Features of Classic Ode
   • Features of Irregular Ode
   • Poetic Tone
8. Lyric poetry
   • Close reading and analysis of William Wordsworth's The Solitary Reaper
   • Close reading and analysis of Mary Oliver's Song of the Builders
   • Comparison between Romantic and Contemporary Lyric poetry
9. War poetry
   • Close reading and analysis of Wilfred Owen's Dulce Et Decorum Est
   • Close reading and analysis of Farrah Sarafa's War Fire
   • Underlying themes in War Poetry

Reading List:

1. Essential Reading (A compiled coursepack of the poems will be made available to students)
   • Amichai, Y. (2015). Inside the Apple. Retrieved from https://poetrydispatch.wordpress.com/2007/11/03/yehuda-amichai-inside-the-apple/
   • Browning, E. B. (n.d.). Sonnet XIV: If Thou Must Love Me, Let it be for Nought. Retrieved from http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/if-thou-must-love-me-sonnet-14
   • Frost, R. (n.d.). Into My Own. Retrieved from http://www.sonnets.org/frost.htm
   • Gray, T. (2000). Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. Retrieved from http://www.thomasgray.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?text=elcc
   • Heaney, S. (n.d.). Elegy to a Still Born Child. Retrieved from  http://beck.library.emory.edu/BelfastGroup/browse.php?id=heaney1_10365#heaney1_10292
   • Keats, J. Ode to a Nightingale. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bartleby.com/101/624.html
   • Kerouac, J. (2003). Book of Haikus. (ed.) Regina Weinreich. Penguin Books.
   • Marvell, A. To His Coy Mistress. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bartleby.com/101/357.html
   • Matsuo Basho (selections from Retrieved from http://thegreenleaf.co.uk/hp/basho/00bashohaiku.htm )
   • Milton, J. (2014). Paradise Lost Book 1 (excerpts) http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pl/book_1/text.shtml
   • Neruda, P. (2006). Ode to an Onion. Retrieved from http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/pablo_neruda/poems/15730
   • Oliver, M. (2015). Song of the Builders. Retrieved from http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets/Mary_Oliver/17306   
   • Owen, W. (2011). Dulce Et Decorum Est. Retrieved from http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html
   • Pope, A. (2008). Rape of the Lock (excerpts). AITBS Publishers and Distributors- Delhi.
   • Sidney, P. (n.d.). ‘Sonnet I’. Astrophel and Stella. Retrieved from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174419
   • Sarafa, F. War Fire. Retrieved from http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/poemsJLY_06.htm#Poems by Farrah Sarafa   
   • Wordsworth, W. (2011). Daffodils. http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/daffodils/
2. Additional Reading
   • Abrams, M.H. (2003). A Glossary of Literary Terms. Singapore: Thomson Asia.
   • Bloom, H. (2005). The Art of Reading Poetry. Harper Perennial.
   • McGuire, P. C. (Autumn 1987). ‘Shakespeare’s Non-Shakespearean Sonnets’. Shakespeare Quarterly, 38, (3), pp. 304 – 319. Folger Shakespeare Library. Retrieved from http://0-www.jstor.org.helin.uri.edu/stable/2870505
   • Mukherjee, S. (ed.). (2007). Victorian Poets. Delhi: Worldview Publications.
   • Ramdev, R. (ed.). (2009). Sidney, Spenser and Donne: A Critical Introduction. Delhi: Worldview Publications.
   • Sengupta, D. and S. Cama. (eds.). (2008). Blake, Wordsworth and Coleridge. Delhi: Worldview Publication.

Date: December 20, 2015