Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide – Lois Tyson
Reserve Reading

Recommended Texts

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Glossary of Literary Terms – MH Abrams

This seminar will explore key American poetry movements of the late twentieth century, focusing on the period between the late 1950s and the late 1980s, and examining the developments that were part of a radical shift that has occurred in the field. Focusing on a few figures whose work has been considered important and has generated considerable critical commentary, we will determine the ideological, thematic and aesthetic concerns each "movement" engages and also consider these writers and their "movements" in relationship to one another. The work of this group of writers should give you a sense of the diversity and divisiveness that informs the field of contemporary American poetry, exposing you to a variety of styles, ideologies, aesthetics and forms. The course also lays the groundwork for understanding the aesthetic, theoretical and political battles that would come to inform the field at the turn into the 21st century. The range of writers and writing should also allow us to consider the ways literature is related to the economic, social and cultural shifts that occurred during this period.

In conjunction with the primary texts, we will familiarize ourselves with contemporary literary theory and then read a few critical essays that examine specific works, providing instances of critical and theoretical paradigms in action. We will read the essays as a class and examine them for their argumentative strategies as well as critical ideas.

Weekly Reading Assignments including theory explanations and essays.

Regular participation in class discussion. (20%)

Response papers (15%)

Class presentation. (15%)

Final paper and conference presentation. (50%)

We will read selections from the Norton in the case of Bishop, Ashbery, and Ginsberg and significant portions of the collections by Baraka, Creeley, O’Hara, Plath and Hejinian. Each week, you will also read selections from Critical Theory Today. Please note, I do not plan to spend class time discussing the Tyson but I will be happy to answer questions if you have them. For some sections—psychoanalysis, deconstruction—I may decide to take time in class to go over the material. My hope is that we will save class time for discussing the poems and the critical essays that will accompany the work of some of the poets. I have tried to select essays that engage the theoretical paradigms discussed in Critical Theory Today and my hope is that Tyson’s explanations will be helpful and illuminating.

We will be reading sections of Critical Theory Today in relationship to one or more of the poets. Your response papers should attempt to read a specific poem through the lens of the one of the theories we’ve been reading about – preferably the one we’ve read about that week. For example, the first sections of Critical Theory Today that you will read explain "New Criticism" and "Feminist Criticism." You will need to choose one of Bishop’s poems and apply the principles of "Feminist Criticism" in your response. Response papers should be at least one full page (double-spaced) but no more than two. Please post your response papers to Web CT.

Once during the semester, you will be asked to present the ideas you have developed in a response paper. You will work in groups of two or three, but each student will present a reading of a different poem. You will need to decide well in advance which poem you’d like to discuss so that there won’t be overlap. Through these presentations, students will essentially be responsible for guiding the discussion of one of the poems while at the same time demonstrating the application of a theoretical paradigm.

You will first write an abstract of the essay you plan to write. The abstract will be read and critiqued by the entire class.

You will develop your abstract into a 15-20 page final essay that focuses on the work of a poet who was writing during this period. You may focus on one of the poets we are discussing in class, or on a poet who was connected to one of the movements (ie Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton, John Berryman, Charles Bernstein, Charles Olsen, Jack Spicer, James Merrill, Barbara Guest, Anne Waldman, etc.) You will be expected to explicitly engage with one theoretical paradigm or another, and to situate your argument within the literary critical conversation taking place about this author.

You will then have the option to revise your essay into a conference length essay that you will present at a mini-conference. You will decide as a class whether or not you want to do this. I've done this in the past and students have gotten a lot out of it. Conferences are an important part of academic life. Being able to write and present a good conference paper is an excellent way to hone your critical thinking skills. Conference papers must be easy for an audience to follow but also complex and relevant enough to hold their interest. A conference paper must be short enough to be read in no longer than 10-15 minutes (depending on how many people are on the panel). That means that your essay will be between 8 and 10 pages long. If we decide to have the conference, everyone will present their conference papers on a Saturday or Sunday late in the semester. You will be organized into panels and we will have our own mini-conference and you'll be welcome to invite your friends, family and colleagues.

Course Goals:

Please Note: This schedule is not set in stone. The purpose is to give you a sense of the order of the readings and to approximate the date on which we will cover particular material.

WEEK ONE

Aug 29             Introduction to the period
                        Essay: "Tradition and the Individual Talent," TS Eliot (Web CT)

WEEK TWO

Sept 5              Elizabeth Bishop, full selection from Norton
                        Tyson: New Criticism and Feminist Criticism

WEEK THREE

    12             Bishop continued
                     Student readings of Bishop’s poems that engage with feminist criticism
                     Essay: "From Gender to Genre: Elizabeth Bishop and ‘The Moose.’" Mutlu Konuk Blasing. (Web CT)

WEEK FOUR

    19            Sylvia Plath (Confessional Poetry), "The Disquieting Muses" and "The Colossus," in Norton and selections from Ariel
                    Tyson: Psychoanalytic Criticism; also read about psychoanalysis, especially Lacan and Kristeva at:
                     www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/theory/

WEEK FIVE

    26            Plath continued
                    Student readings of Plath’s poems that engage deconstructive, feminist or psychoanalytic theory
                    Essay: Introduction and Chapter 6 ‘Daddy’ from The Haunting of Sylvia Plath, Jacqueline Rose (Web CT)

WEEK SIX

Oct 3             Amiri Baraka (Black Arts Movement), selections from Transbluescency
                      Tyson: African American Criticism

WEEK SEVEN

Oct 10         Student readings of Baraka’s poems that engage African American criticism
                    John Ashbery (New York School), full selection from Norton
                    Tyson: Structuralist Criticism and Deconstructive Criticism

WEEK EIGHT

    17             Fall Break

WEEK NINE

    24             Ashbery continued
                    Student readings of "Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror."
                    Essay: "Critical Reflections: Poetry and Art Criticism in Ashbery’s 'Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror.'" Richard Stammelman.
                    (Web CT)

WEEK TEN

    31             Lyn Hejinian (Language Poetry), My Life

WEEK ELEVEN

Nov 7          Hejinian continued
                    Student readings of sections of My Life that engage with feminist or deconstructive criticism.
                    Essay: "Resignifying Autobiography: Lyn Hejinian’s My Life," Juliana Spahr (Web CT)

                    Essay abstract due, including annotated bibliography

WEEK TWELVE

    14         Discuss & critique essay abstracts

WEEK THIRTEEN

    21         Thanksgiving

WEEK FOURTEEN

    28          Frank O’Hara (New York School) Lunch Poems
                  Tyson: Lesbian, Gay and Queer Criticism

WEEK FIFTEEN

Dec 5         Allen Ginsberg (The Beats), full selection from Norton
                  Tyson: New Historical and Cultural Criticism
                  Essay: "Confessional Counterpublics in Frank O’Hara and Allen Ginsberg," Anne Hartman

Final Paper Due

WEEK SIXTEEN

    12         Robert Creeley (Black Mountain School), selections from Selected Poems