Revised Reading and Presentation Schedule

Update: the remaining blog posts will appear on Thurs and you'll have until Sunday to respond with 2 blog comments. Complete the readings before commenting. Your first comment should respond to a question I ask in the discussion post, and the second should respond to a something a classmate has said. Comments are not graded but count as attendance and participation. 

Tues: Mar 24:  Octavia Butler “Speech Sounds.” (Sakai)

                        

Tues Mar 31:  Kamau Brathwaite, “Nation Language” (Sakai)

Linton Quesi Johnson “Inglan is a Bitch” (Youtube video)

Louise Bennett “Colonization in Reverse” (Youtube video)

Tues April 2:  All on Youtube: 

Staceyann Chin, “Three Frenzied Days”

Sonia Sanchez “Our Vision is Our Voice”

Joy Harjo, “A Poem to Get Rid of Fear”
Suheir Hammad, “Not Your Erotic, Not Your Exotic” 

Daisy Lavea Timo, “Killer Builders”
Miguel Piñero, “Seeking the Cause”
Bao Phi, “You Bring Out the Vietnamese in Me”

Regie Cabico, “What Kind of Guys are Attracted to Me" 

Nikki Giovanni, “Nikki-Rosa”
Yusef Komunyakaa, “The Sure Beat” 

Thurs April 9: Group 4 Blog Post 

Thurs April 16:  Haryette Mullen, Muse and Drudge  (selections)

                        Lauren Russell, “Dream-Clung, Gone” (Sakai)

                                    

Odes, Tributes, Praisesongs

Thurs April 23: Group 5 Blog Post

                        John Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale” (Sakai)

  Roya Marsh, “Ode to Fetty Wap” (Sakai)

Kevin Young, “Langston Hughes” (Sakai)

 Nate Marshall, “praise song”  (Sakai)

Joy Harjo, “Praise the Rain” (Sakai)

                        Elizabeth Alexander, “Praisesong for the Day” (Sakai)

Tues April 28: Optional: Paper Workshop Via Zoom@1:10pm

Final Paper Due Fri May 10 via email: iowens@english.rutgers.edu

Course Description

This is the online discussion forum of Principles of Literary Study. Check here for new discussion posts every Tues. 

Course Description: 

This course explores the relationship between poetry, music and sound. In addition to reading poems about music, we will also explore the sonic elements of poems (how they sound), the impact of the voice, and poetic collaborations with musicians. Fine-tuning  our reading and listening practices, we will review basic poetic forms including the sonnet, ode, elegy, free verse, blank verse, blues form, dub, spoken word and hip hop. We will review poetic devices such as line, meter, image, metaphor, simile. We will hone our critical and creative skills through close reading while also considering the historical contexts that inform the creation of poems.

Class Poem, "Musical Chaos" (composed by everyone, Feb 11, 2020)

Immense trumpet ran interesting basketball
Scary cat slipped in a spicy suitcase
Delicate temple flourishes transparent chocolate.
Loveable paper escapes with Spanish paint
Twinkly music walks.

Another exquisite corps, but with dance: