1. Preview What Is Poetry? Focus on Poetry, Merwin,
Separation. Using the Imagination. Dickinson,
Presentiment. Frost,
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. Lorde,
Coping. Garcia Lorca,
Half Moon. Young,
Chemistry. Rhymed or Unrhymed Poetry? Williams,
This Is Just to Say. Juxtapositions: To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme. Cowper,
The Snail. Swenson,
Living Tenderly. Meter and Free Verse. Tennyson,
The Eagle. Whitman,
A Noiseless Patient Spider. Juxtapositions: Meter and Free Verse. Millay,
Pity Me Not Because the Light of Day. Brooks,
Truth. Close Reading and the Personal Response. Pastan,
Sometimes in Winter. Heaney,
Valediction. Walker,
New Face. Stevens,
Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock. The Creative Dimension. Basho,
An old quiet pond. Ukihashi,
Whether I sit or lie. Chigetsu-Ni,
Grasshoppers. Horikawa,
How long will it last? Writing about Literature: Keeping a Poetry Journal.
2. Pattern: The Whole Poem. Focus on Pattern. Berry,
The Peace of Wild Things. The Power of Attention. Williams,
Between Walls. Olds,
The Possessive. Quintana,
Legacy II. Juxtapositions: To Look on Nature. Hardy,
The Darkling Thrush. Plath,
Frog Autumn. The Shape of the Poem. Parker,
Solace. MacLeish,
The Genius. Meredith,
A Major Work. Ecclesiastes,
To Every Thing There Is a Season. Swan,
The Opening. Bradstreet, from
The Vanity of All Worldly Things. Bontemps,
A Black Man Talks of Reaping. A Sense of Pattern. Pound,
Alba. Boyle,
October 1954. Cummings,
Anyone lived in a pretty home town. Juxtapositions: The Daily Cycle. Momaday,
New World. Donne,
A Lecture Upon the Shadow. Dauenhauer,
Tlinglit Concrete Poem. Poems for Further Study. Piercy,
Simple Song. Soto,
Oranges. Laughlin,
Junk Mail. Frost,
Fire and Ice. Rich,
Novella. Writing about Literature: The Whole Paper.
3. Image: The Open Eye. Focus on Image. Stafford,
At the Bomb Testing Site. Visual and Other Images. Oliver,
The Black Snake. Roethke,
My Papa's Waltz. Darr,
Advice I Wish Someone Had Given Me. Images and Feelings. Le Guin,
The Old Falling Down. Hayden,
Those Winter Sundays. Juxtapositions: The Sense of Place. Stafford,
One Home. Cervantes,
Freeway 280. Poetry and Paraphrase. Rexroth,
Trout. Millay,
Childhood Is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies. Poems for Further Study. Meinke,
Sunday at the Apple Market. Keats,
To Autumn. Eliot,
Preludes. Gioia,
California Hills in August. Writing about Literature: Looking at Imagery.
4. Metaphor: Making Connections. Focus on Metaphor. Dickinson,
Apparently with no surprise. Reading for Metaphor. Cullen,
For My Grandmother. Swenson,
Question. Dickinson,
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers. Figurative Language: Metaphor, Simile, Personification. Blurns,
A Red, Red Rose. Nemerov,
The Great Gull. Hughes,
Dream Deferred. Bradley,
Key. The Range of Metaphor. Wyatt,
My Gallery Charged with Forgetfulness. Shakespeare,
Sonnet 73. Poems for Further Study. Catacalos,
La Casa. Shakespeare,
Sonnet 29. Pastan,
Anger. Giovanni,
The Drum. Plath,
Metaphors. St. Martin,
The Ocean. Donne,
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning. Writing about Literature: Interpreting Metaphor.
5. Symbol: A World of Meanings. Focus on Symbols. Levertov,
To One Steeped in Bitterness. The Language of Symbols. Wagoner,
The Other House. Finkel,
They. Lee,
Persimmons. Shelley,
Ozymandias. Public and Private Symbols. Blake,
The Tyger. Yeats,
Sailing to Byzantium. Mistral,
To Drink. Symbol and Allegory. Rossetti,
Uphill. Blake,
A Poison Tree. Paz,
Wind and Water and Stone. Poems for Further Study. Cervantes,
Refugee Ship. Arnold,
Dover Beach. Keats,
Bright Star. Clifton,
My Mama Moved Among the Days. Rich,
Aunt Jennifer's Tigers. Writing about Literature: Seeing Symbols in Context.
6. Words: The Web of Language. Focus on Words. Hopkins,
Pied Beauty. The Willing Ear. Denney,
Fixer of Midnight. Williams,
The Dance. Young,
For Poets. The Right Word. Williams,
The Red Wheelbarrow. Bishop,
The Fish. Denotation and Connotation. Simic,
Poem. Juxtapositions: Cityscapes. Wordsworth,
Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802. Blake,
London. The Limits of Language. Masefield,
Cargoes. Hopkins,
Peace. MacDiarmid,
Weep and Wail No More. Keats, On First Looking into Chapman's Homer. Thomas,
Fern Hill. Poems for Further Study. Atwood,
Dreams of the Animals. Hopkins,
The Windhover. Soyinka,
Lost Tribe. Heaviside,
A Gathering of Deafs. Writing about Literature: Responding to Connotation. Jeffrey Harrison,
Bathtubs, Three Varieties.
7. Form: Rhyme, Meter, and Stanza. Focus on Form. Wordsworth,
It Is a Beauteous Evening. Rhyme, Alliteration, Free Verse. American Folk Song,
Black Is the Color. Swift,
A Description of the Morning. Dickinson,
The Soul Selects her own Society. Shakespeare,
Sonnet 30. Rhythm and Meter. Frost,
Dust of Snow. Shelley,
To --. Levertov,
O Taste and See. Traditional Stanza Form. Shakespeare,
O Mistress Mine; Under the Greenwood Tree La Follette,
The Ballad of Red Fox Bishop,
One Art. Milton,
When I Consider How My Light Is Spent. Millay,
I, Being Born a Woman, and Distressed. Traditional Form and Open Form. Sexton,
Her Kind. Olds,
I Go Back to May 1937. Juxtapositions: Close and Free Translation. Rilke,
The Panther. Poems for Further Study. Anonymous,
Lord Randal. de Pisan,
Marriage Is a Lovely Thing. Wordsworth,
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud. Nashe,
A Litany in Time of Plague. Roethke,
The Waking. Writing about Literature: Relating Form to Meaning.
8. Persona: Masks and Faces. Focus on Persona. Williams,
Hood. The Autobiographical I. Jonson,
On My First Son. Kumin,
Nurture. Sappho,
Letter to Anaktoria. Erdrich,
Indian Boarding School: The Runaways. Juxtapositions: Variations of I. Browning,
How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways. Brooks,
A Song in the Front Yard. The Public Persona. Thomas,
In My Craft or Sullen Art. Whitman,
I Understand the Large Hearts of Heroes. Lorde,
Coal. Imagined Selves. Lucie- Smith,
Afterwards. Bogan,
Cassandra. Kaschnitz,
Women's Program. Browning,
My Last Duchess. Poems for Further Study. Cullen,
Saturday's Child. Levertov,
In Mind. Giovanni,
Legacies. Plath,
Mirror. Writing about Literature: Playing the Role.
9. Tone: The Human Voice. Focus on Tone. The Register of Emotions. Shakespeare,
Sonnet 18. Stafford,
Traveling through the Dark. Espada,
Latin Night at the Pawnshop. Ransom,
Bells for John Whiteside's Daughter. Hass,
Song. Bogan,
The Dream. Cullen,
Incident. Thomas,
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. Juxtapositions: Poems of Mourning. Housman,
With Rue My Heart Is Laden. Momaday,
Earth and I Gave You Turquoise. The Uses of Wit. Reed,
.05. Merriam,
Robin Hood. Wagoner,
Breath Test. Hope,
Coup de Grace. Poems for Further Study. Suckling,
Song. Lovelace,
To Lucasta, Going to the Wars. Olds,
Quake Theory. McKay,
If We Must Die. Writing about Literature: Responding to Tone.
10. Irony and Paradox: Marrying Contraries. Focus on Irony and Paradox. Plath, from
Watercolor of Grantchester Meadows. The Uses of Irony. Crane,
A Man Saw a Ball of Gold. Nash,
The Hunter. northSun,
Moving Camp Too Far. Auden,
The Unknown Citizen. Owen,
Dulce et Decorum Est. Juxtapositions: Modern Parables. Crane,
The Wayfarer; There Was Crimson Clash of War. Bennett,
Leader. The Uses of Paradox. Fertig,
I Have Come to the Conclusion. Petrarca,
Or Che 'l Ciel e la Terra e 'l Vento Tace. Shakespeare,
Sonnet 97. Herbert,
The Pulley. Donne,
Holy Sonnet 10. Juxtapositions: Convention and Originality. Herrick,
To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time. Marvell,
To His Coy Mistress. Countess of Dia,
I Sing of That Which I Would Rather Hide. Poems for Further Study. Sexton,
Ringing the Bells. Shakespeare,
Sonnet 130. Neruda,
The Fickle One. Writing about Literature: Exploring Irony and Paradox.
11. Theme: The Making of Meaning. Focus on Theme. Milosz,
Incantation. Idea and Image. MacLeish,
Ars Poetica. Whitman,
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer. Stafford,
Freedom. Donne,
Holy Sonnet 5. The Committed Poet. Brecht,
On the Burning of Books. Levertov,
What Were They Like? Hayden,
Frederick Douglass. Juxtapositions: Poems of War. Reed,
Naming of Parts. Eberhart,
The Fury of Aerial Bombardment. Poems For Further Study. Levertov,
The Mutes. Larkin,
Born Yesterday. Walker,
Women. Writing about Literature: Tracing a Common Theme.
12. Myth and Allusion: Twice-Told Tales. Focus on Myth. cummings,
in Just- . The Range of Allusion. Yeats,
Leda and the Swan. H. D.,
Helen. Juxtapositions: The Sacrifice of Isaac.
Genesis 22. Owen,
The Parable of the Old Men and the Young. The Language of Myth. Grahn,
They Say She Is Veiled. Keats,
Ode on a Grecian Urn. Juxtapositions: The Icarus Myth. Sexton,
To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph. Wagoner,
The Return of Icarus. Miller,
The New Icarus. Williams,
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. Modern Myths. Olds,
The Death of Marilyn Monroe. cummings,
Portrait. Poems for Further Study. Wordsworth,
The World Is Too Much with Us. Millay,
An Ancient Gesture. Dickey,
Exploration over the Rim. Finkel,
The Sirens. Writing about Literature: Re-interpreting Myth.
13. Three Poets in Depth: Dickinson, Frost, and Brooks. Focus on the Poet.
Emily Dickinson: The Poet's Voice. Tell all the Truth but tell it slant. A Bird came down the Walk. The Bustle in a House. Because I could not stop for Death. I heard a Fly buzz-when I died. Poems for Further Study.
Success is counted sweetest. I taste a liquor never brewed. Wild Nights-Wild Nights! There's a certain Slant of light. I'm Nobody! Who are you?. After great pain, a formal feeling comes. Much Madness is divinest Sense. I died for Beauty-but was scarce. To hear an Oriole sing. I had been hungry, all the Years. A Narrow Fellow in the Grass. I never saw a Moor. There is no Frigate like a Book. My life closed twice before its close. Robert Frost: Poet and Persona. The Tuft of Flowers. Mending Wall. Design. Poems for Further Study.
After Apple-Picking. The Road Not Taken. The Oven Bird. Acquainted with the Night. Neither Out Far Nor In Deep. The Silken Tent. Once by the Pacific. The Night Light. On Being Idolized. Nothing Gold Can Stay. Gwendolyn Brooks: Commitment and Universality. We Real Cool. Hunchback Girl: She Thinks of Heaven. Piano After War. Mexie and Bridie. The Chicago Defender
Sends a Man to Little Rock. Poems for Further Study.
When You Have Forgotten Sunday: The Love Story. The Chicago Picasso, August 15, 1967. The Preacher Ruminates Behind the Sermon. The Ballad of the Light-Eyed Little Girl. The Bean Eaters. The Boy Died in My Alley. Writing about Literature: The Poet and the Critics.
14. Perspectives: Poets and Critics. Focus on Criticism. Poets on Poetry. Pope, from
An Essay on Criticism. Keats,
Letter to John Bailey. Thomas,
Notes on the Art of Poetry. Lorde,
Poems Are Not Luxuries. Juxtapositions: The Poet's Motives. Wakoski,
On Experience and Imagination. Neruda,
Childhood and Poetry. Explication: Sound and Sense. Hopkins,
God's Grandeur. Watson,
God's Grandeur. Evaluation: Poems Good and Bad. McKuen,
Thoughts on Capital Punishment. Halley,
Dear God, the Day is Grey. Perrine,
On Dear God, the Day is Grey. Ort,
Can a Merry-Go-Round Horse Gallop in a Straight Line? Writing about Literature: Writing the Essay Exam.
Other Voices/Other Visions: Poems for Further Reading. Anonymous,
Edward. Anonymous,
Sir Patrick Spens. Behn,
Song. Berryman,
Dream Song. Blake,
The Chimney Sweeper; Bogan, MIWomen. Coleridge,
Kubla Kahn. Creeley,
Fathers; Four. cummings,
my sweet old etcetera. Donne,
The Good-Morrow; Holy Sonnet 14. Dove,
Daystar. Eliot,
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Ferlinghetti,
Constantly risking absurdity. Ginsberg,
A Supermarket in California. Giovanni,
Nikki-Rosa. Hall,
My Son, My Executioner. Hardy,
In Time of The Breaking of Nations. Heaney,
The Forge. Herbert,
The Collar; Easter Wings. Housman,
To an Athlete Dying Young. Hughes,
End. Hughes,
Hawk Roosting. Huidobro,
Ars Poetica. Jonson,
Song: To Celia. Jordan,
Lullaby. Justice,
Time and the Weather. Keats,
Ode to a Nightingale; When I Have Fears. Kinnell,
Blackberry Eating. Knight,
He Sees Through Stone. Lorde,
Sister Outsider. Lowell,
Skunk Hour. Marlowe,
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. Marvell,
The Definition of Love. Merwin,
For the Anniversary of My Death. Milton,
How Soon Hath Time. Owen,
Anthem for Doomed Youth. Pastan,
1932-; Posterity. Plath,
Daddy. Pound,
In a Station of the Metro. The River-Merchant's Wife. Raleigh,
The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd. Randall,
Ballad of Birmingham. Ransom,
Janet Waking. Rich,
Diving into the Wreck. Robinson,
Richard Cory. Roethke,
I Knew a Woman. Sexton,
The Truth the Dead Know. Shakespeare,
Sonnet 116. Shelley,
To a Skylark. Snyder,
After Work; Hay for the Horses. Song,
Lost Sister. Stevens,
Anecdote of the Jar; The Emperor of Ice Cream; 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. Strand,
Eating Poetry. Tennyson,
Ulysses. Thomas,
The Force that Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower. Waller,
Go, Lovely Rose. Whitman,
There Was a Child Went Forth. Wilbur,
The Writer. Williams,
Spring and All. Wordsworth,
A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal. The Solitary Reaper. Wyatt,
They Flee From Me. Yamada,
A Bedtime Story. Yeats,
The Second Coming. 