First-Year Studies in Poetry: West/ East at Night

Catalog description

This course will aim to provide an introduction to college and to poetry, as seen through the cultural lenses of what has been called the “East” and what has been called the “West.” Because this course will meet at night, we will also have a chance to “Dark” and how that might influence writers. While keeping faith with the sacred jazz ethic of improvisation, we are likely to spend class time getting to know each other as readers and writers and working collaboratively; discussing questions like what is a poem, what is taste, what is the “East,” what is the “West,” what is “Light” and “Dark,” and how have these constructs influenced writers and readers; and doing writing exercises as practicum, including keeping a nightbook. Students will participate in readings at the middle and end of each semester; they will work with a partner, write weekly response letters and introduce their work; and make two zuihitsus, a Japanese form combining what has been called “poetry” and what has been called “prose.” We will read two versions of The Narrow Road to the Interior: Basho’s from the 17th century and Kimiko Hahn’s from 2006, as well as excerpts from The Pillow Book, through which Sei Shonagon invented the zuihitsu a thousand years ago. The only informal prerequisites are a passion for reading that equals your passion for writing, the courage to give up spectatorhood for active participation, and a willingness to undertake whatever might be necessary to read, write, and think better on the last day of class than the first. In weekly conferences, we will discuss college and review student drafts—mostly of poems, along with some critical writing about shared texts—particularly Edward Said’s Orientalism and Dionne Brand’s A Map to the Door of No Return. In fall, students will meet weekly with the instructor for individual conferences; in spring, individual conferences will be…