spring 2013 195 384 01 poetry anderson

8/11/2019 Spring 2013 195 384 01 Poetry Anderson

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Painting with Words: Exploring Poetry and ImageSpring 2013

"To a masterpiece in story there appertains a beauty of shape, no less than to a masterpiece in pictorialor plastic art, capable of giving the trained mind an equal pleasure."

--Thomas Hardy

Ut pictura poesis--as in painting so is poetry--Horace

Vaughn [email protected]

Comparative Literature195:384:01Monday/Wednesday 2:15pm-3:35pmTillett Hall 204 (Mon), Tillett Hall 125 (Wed), Livingston Campus.

Office hours and location: Tuesday 11am-12pm, or by appointment. The Scarlet Latte,Alexander LibraryMailbox: 195 College Avenue

Introduction:

What is the difference between a pen and a paintbrush? Can a poem bea painting?What is poetic about a photograph? Throughout the 20th century, these questions becameespecially urgent for writers and artists living in an age when world wars, mass communicationand general relativity seemed to threaten the very ideas of time and space.

In this course we will read poetry that interprets, imitates, or even becomesvisual art.

Starting with the Romantic period, we will trace changing ideas of poetry's relationship to imagethrough the digital age. While this class is meant as a survey of the importance of visual art forpoetry during the 20th Century, it will focus specifically on two main questions: the relationshipbetween time and space in poetry; and the similarities and differences in the ways that imageand text create meaning.

To ground our discussions, we will sample some of the most important theoretical textson image's relationship to the word. The main focus of the class, however, will be on developingskills in close reading. Background knowledge in Art History is welcomed but not necessary.

Evaluation

Attendance 10%Participation: 10%Written Responses: 30%Two 7-9 Page Papers: 50%

Total: 100%


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Grading Rubric:

A (90-100), B+ (87-89), B (80-86), C+ (75-79), C (70-74) , D (60-69), F (59-0)Papers for this course will be assessed according to the rubric used in Rutgers ExpositoryWriting, which will be posted to Sakai. Final grades are non-negotiable unless you can provethat I have made a mathematical error in calculating the grade.

This course fulfills the following requirements:

1. SAS Liberal Arts Distribution RequirementsThis course fulfills the Humanities requirement.

2. New Core Curriculum Learning GoalsThis course will meet the following goals:

C: Arts and the Humanities (3 credits)p. Analyze arts and/or literatures in themselves and in relation to specific histories,

values, languages, cultures, and technologies.3. Comparative Literature Learning Goals

1. Students will demonstrate familiarity with a variety of world literatures as well as

methods of studying literature and culture across national and linguistic boundaries andevaluate the nature, function and value of literature from a global perspective.

2. They will demonstrate critical reasoning and research skills; design and conductresearch in an individual field of concentration (such as literary theory, women's literature, postcolonial studies, literature and film, etc); analyze a specific body of research and write a clearand well developed paper or project about a topic related to more than one literary and culturaltradition.

Requirements, Rules, Regulations1. Attendance will be taken at each class meeting.

A. Excused absences. Religiously observant students should indicate that theywish to be excused on religious holidays, and these absences will be considered

excused absences, following university regulations. Athletes needing to attendpractice at certain times should inform me in advance of their situation;absences to attend practice will be considered excused absences. Otherexcused absences are family emergencies, transportation emergencies,scheduled job interviews, health emergencies, and scheduled visits to doctors.Students who find themselves needing to be excused for a long period formedical or other reasons should contact their college dean and have the deannotify all of their professors about the need for a long absence from class.

B. Unexcused absences. Excessive absences will hurt your grade. Each studentis allowed two unexcused absences for the semester, after which your grade willbegin to drop.if you expect to miss one or two classes, please use theUniversity absence reporting website:https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/to indicate

the date and reason for your absence. An email is automatically sent to me.NOTE THAT THIS DOES NOT EXCUSE THE ABSENCE. More than sixunexcused absences will guarantee an F for the class.

2. Tardiness. Be in class on time. If you arrive late to class you will lose participationpoints for the day. If you arrive more than 15 minutes late you will be counted absent.

3. Participation. Participation in class discussions is a very important part of this classand will be part of your grade. Daily participation will be out of a possible 5 points. Youmust BRING READINGS TO CLASS, or forfeit one participation point.
https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/


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4. Course etiquette.Please feel free to ask as many questions during class discussion asyou want. Remember that you are here to learn, and dont feel embarrassed aboutanything you might not know or understand. No electronic cell phones or ipods, etc.may be used during class. LAPTOPS MUST BE USED FOR CLASSWORK ONLY.

5. Written responses. Throughout the semester students will write six two-three pageresponse papers. Response papers should attempt to address one of our discussion

questions, and should include a clear and argumentative thesis statement. They shouldbe typed upahead of time and brought to class. You can refer to them during classdiscussion, or I may call on you to share your response with the rest of the class. Thequestions will be collected at the end of the period. Failure to hand in your response willhurt your participation grade.

6. Two 7-9 page papers, due on March 13 and May 3. Papers should be based on theclass readings but may incorporate ideas, properly attributed, from class discussions.Internet materials and other outside sources may not be used, nor should students worktogether with other students on preparing their papers. Papers should include anintroductory paragraph that clearly states a thesis. Evidence proving that thesis shouldfollow in the body of the paper, and there should be a concluding paragraph thatsummarizes (briefly) the argument and/or relates the issue to other texts read in the

course. Topics will be given out about two weeks before the papers are due to guideyou in the writing of the short papers. You will be allowed to rewrite the first short paper.

7. Late papers. I will at times allow students an extra day to work on finishing a latepaper, but onlyif you have an acceptable reason for turning the essay in late and onlyif you ask me for an extension before the paper is due. Many students who get theiressays in on time consider it unfair for a teacher to allow other students extra time;therefore, unexcused late papers will go down one letter grade for every day thatthey are late.

*Note: all written work done outside of class should be typed in 12-point Times New Roman orequivalent, with margins of 1 inch on all sides. Double space your paper and do not justify themargins. When writing more than one page, include page numbers and staple the pages

together. Proofread all papers to catch grammatical errors, spelling errors, and typos. Papersshould follow the MLA format, which can be found at these websites:www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities/manuscript.html http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

Policy on plagiarismPlagiarism is any form of unauthorized use of another persons ideas without acknowledging thesource in due manner. It includes quoting, paraphrasing, and imitating without referring to theoriginal source, any act of copy-and-paste without quotation marks and reference, ordownloading another personswork and submitting it as your own. To avoid plagiarism, it is yourresponsibility to check out the specific details regarding what constitutes plagiarism and how not

to do it. Students who violate the University Academic Integrity Policy by committing plagiarismwill fail the course and face the University disciplinary action. Please familiarize yourself with thecontents of these webpages:

- For information on Rutgers policy on academic integrity, see the document below: http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/files/documents/AI_Policy_9_01_2011.pdf

- Take a tutorial on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity (Camden Plagiarism Tutorial):http://library.camden.rutgers.edu/EducationalModule/Plagiarism/
http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities/manuscript.htmlhttp://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities/manuscript.htmlhttp://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/files/documents/AI_Policy_9_01_2011.pdfhttp://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/files/documents/AI_Policy_9_01_2011.pdfhttp://library.camden.rutgers.edu/EducationalModule/Plagiarism/http://library.camden.rutgers.edu/EducationalModule/Plagiarism/http://library.camden.rutgers.edu/EducationalModule/Plagiarism/http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/files/documents/AI_Policy_9_01_2011.pdfhttp://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities/manuscript.html


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- Visit Rutgers Writing Programs guideline against plagiarism:http://wp.rutgers.edu/courses/plagiarism

- Tips on how to take notes so that you dont plagiarize by accident:http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/lib_instruct/instruct_document.shtml

Reading Schedule:

Ekphrasis: Close Reading Text and ImageHow do writing and image portray reality differently?What do we mean when we say that a picture worth 1,000 words?

Theoretical Reading: Excerpts from Renssalaer Lee, Ut Pictura Poesis

Mon Jan 28 Anne Sexton, "The Starry Night;" William Carlos Williams, "The GreatFigure;" Ellen Bryant Voigt, "Wormwood: The Penitents;"

Wed Jan 30 John Ashberry and William Carlos Williams on Breugel's "Icarus;" Allen Ginsberg,"Cezanne's Ports;" Octavio Paz, "Four Black Poplars"

Ekphrasis Continued: RomanticismCan writing ever coincide with image? How or how not?How can we use the language of image to talk about writing? Vice Versa?

Theoretical Reading: Excerpts from Gotthold Lessing, Laokon

Mon Feb 4 William Blake, excerpts from Songs of Innocenceand Songs of Experience

Wed Feb 6 John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn;" Percy Bysshe Shelley, "On the Medusa ofLeonardo da Vinci in the Florentine Gallery," "Ozymandias;" excerpts fromLord Byron, Goethe, Dante Gabriel Rosetti; Elizabeth Barrett Browning onHiram Powers

Symbolism in Poetry and the ArtsWhat do we mean by "poetics? Can there be a "poetics" of image?How does symbol work differently in text and image?

Theoretical Reading: Excerpts from Jean Moras, "Symbolist Manifesto"

Mon Feb 11 Charles Baudelaire, "Correspondences," excerpts from Les Fluers du mal;Mallarm, "L'Apres-midi d'un faune" (illustrated by Eduard Manet and HenriMatisse)

Wed Feb 13 Poetry and criticism: Baudelaire as art critic, "The Beacons," excerpts from"Salon de 1846;" Mallarm,posie critique

Making it New: ModernismWhat is utopian in the relationship between image and text?
http://wp.rutgers.edu/courses/plagiarismhttp://wp.rutgers.edu/courses/plagiarismhttp://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/lib_instruct/instruct_document.shtmlhttp://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/lib_instruct/instruct_document.shtmlhttp://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/lib_instruct/instruct_document.shtmlhttp://wp.rutgers.edu/courses/plagiarism


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What could we mean by "cubist" painting?

Theoretical Reading: Wellek, "Parallelism between the Literature and the Arts."Stein, from Composition as Explanation

Mon Feb 18 William Carlos Williams at the museum: assorted poems by Williams

Wed Feb 20 Cubism: Gertrude Stein, poetic portraits of Matisse, Picasso, "TenderButtons;" Wallace Stephens, "The Man with the Blue Guitar," Apollinaire,"Meditations esthetiques: les peintres cubistes"

Avant-Garde: SurrealismCan image and text ever serve the same purpose?How do image and text evoke or express our interior selves and states?

Theoretical Reading: Excerpts from Andr Breton, "The Surrealist Manifesto""L'Union Libre" London Bulletin 1938

Mon Feb 25 In-class activity; Excerpts from the Count of Lautreamont, Les Chants deMaldoror(Illustrated by Salvador Dal)

Wed Feb 27 Later Surrealism: Poems by Octavio Paz dedicated to Remedios Varo, JoanMir, Roberto Matta and Leonora Carrington; poems by Cesar Moro; SylviaPlath, "The Disquieting Muses" (to Giorgio de Chirico)

Polyartistry: Painters who PoetizeIs the poetry of these artists somehow "painterly"?How can we relate these artists' painting and poetry?

Theoretical Reading: Gombrich, fromArt and Illusion

Mon Mar 4 Wassily Kandinsky, "Sounds;" MiroWed Mar 6 (In-Class Workshop) Paul Klee Hans; Arp

Polyartistry: Poets who PaintIs the painting of these men somehow "poetic?"Can we find parallel or divergent styles in their painting and poetry?

Mon Mar 11 Selections from e.e. cummings' painting and poetryWed Mar 13 Selections from Rabindranath Tagore and Federico Garcia Lorca

First 7-9 Page Paper Due

Spring Break: Sat Mar 16-Sun Mar 24

Publication and MaterialityHow can we think of the format of publication as visual art?


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How do magazines attempt to establish relationships between image and text?

Theoretical Reading: W.J.T. Mitchell, from Picture Theory

Mon Mar 25 Readings from the Modernist Journals projectWed Mar 27 Book Objects: Octavio Paz, "Topoemas," "Blanco;"

Abstraction: The New York School of Painters and PoetsWhat do we mean by "abstract" art?If abstract painting attempts to escape all symbols and representation, how can

poetry relate to it?

Theoretical Reading: Harold Rosenberg on Abstract Expressionism

Mon Apr 1 Selected poems by John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Frank O'Hara and NancySullivan

Wed Apr 3 Selected poems by Octavio Paz, Severo Sarduy, Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Visual PoetryCan a poem be a painting? How or how not?What do we mean by "concrete?"

Theoretical Reading: De Campos, "Pilot Plan for Concrete Poetry"

Mon Apr 8 Concrete Poetry: Selections from Dylan Thomas, Guillaume Apollinaire, Haroldoand Augusto de Campos, Eugen Gommringer, and Octavio Paz

Wed Apr 10 Digital Poetry: Selections from "Heavy Industries"

Photography and CinemaWhat is meant by "high" and "low" culture?How do we force different media into these categories?

Theoretical Reading: from Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida

Mon Apr 15 Poetry and Photography:Wed Apr 17 Poetry and Cinema: John Berryman, "Homage to Film;" Hart Crane,

"Chaplinesque;" John Ashbery, "They Knew What They Wanted;" Selectionsfrom the Poetry Foundation's "Poetry Everywhere"

Graphic Novels / Graphic Poetry

Theoretical Reading: McHale

Mon Apr 22 From the Poetry Foundation Series: Heatley and Wakoski, "Bellydancer;"Gabrielle Bell and Emily Dickinson; Jeffrey Brown and Russell Edson; Ron Regand Kenneth Patchen


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Wed Apr 24 Howl (Poem, Graphic Novel and Movie clip); Bianca Stone, I Want to Open theMouth God Gave You Beautiful Mutant; Interview with Stone in The Comics

Journal

Illustrated Poetry / Children's poetry

Mon Apr 29 Edward Gorey,AmphigoreyWed May 1 Shel Silverstein, Where the sidewalk Ends; selections from Dr. Seuss

Optional Readings:

Abse, Dannie and Joan. Voices in the Gallery: Poems and Pictures. London: The Tate

Gallery, 1986.

Altick, Richard D.Paintings from Books: Art and Literature in Britain, 1760-1900.

Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1985.

Frye, Roland M.Milton's Imagery and the Visual Arts: Icongraphic Tradition in the

Epic Poems. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1978.

McClatchy, J. D., editor.Poets on Painters: Essays on the Art of Painting by

Twentieth-Century Poets. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

Meisel, Martin.Realizations: Narrative, Pictorial, and Theatrical Arts in Nineteenth-

Century England. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983.

Oakley, Lucy. Unfaded Pageant: Edwin Austin Abbey's Shakespearean Subjects. New

York: Columbia University, 1994.

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