A. Iambic Pentameter review and collection of students� sonnets

B. Dr. Hayward reminices about his undergraduate Creative Writing prof, Denise Levertoff (sp?) who warned �Malc, go to grad school and you�ll not be a poet� because the type of thinking taught in grad school makes creative expression more difficult, perhaps impossible.

C. Dana asked about the faculty strike. Dr. Hayward said that negotiations will continue for a month

D. Course Papers (more, written details to follow)

1. Synthetic paper

a. without much secondary source research, find points of contact among several works (more interesting points will result in a more interesting paper)

b. example: King Lear�s fool is a comical figure who performs the same role as Chaucer�s Wife of Bath

c. this is not a very prescriptive assignment, leaving room for creativity

d. you may try out ideas on Dr. Hayward, or submit your paper early (leaving opportunity to re-write it if he doesn�t like it)

2. Research paper

a. �standard�

b. choose one or several works or writers (even one who may not appear on our course reading list)

c. choose something interesting or controversial, for example �Is the Wife of Bath a feminist voice or a satirist?�

d. two areas:

1. criticism (a critic�s application of literary theory to your work/writer)

2. one�s own criticism (apply a literary theory to the work/writer)

Although 6-8 pages is the recommended length for both papers, Dr. Hayward thinks short books or small works of genius would be acceptable. (Especially if one has a G.U.T. for English literature).

E. Modern Language Association

1. What it is and what it does

a. MLA is a standard professional organization

b. MLA holds annual conferences, publishes a bibliography of journals, and prescribes a format for written papers

2. How and why to join MLA

a. join MLA online at www.mla.org

b. It is cheap for students

c. you will receive 7 annual PMLA journals d. you can go to the conference in San Diego, Dec. 27-29

e. at the annual conference there are free books, sessions, lectures, networking opportunities, drinking opportunities and (this year) a beach.

f. MLA membership will look good on resumes and grad school applications

ASSIGNMENT for Tuesday, October 21, 2003

1. Using the MLA bibliography online (it is a limited access database so use a campus computer lab or library computer) go to:

http://web25.epnet.com/search.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+28+ln+en%2Dus+sid+1279AA8A%2D7EA2%2D4AA0%2D9034%2D476B64D6F8D6%40Sessionmgr6+3F13&_us=db+28+dstb+DB+ex+default+hs+0+sm+KS+ss+SO+F75B&newsrch=1

2. Key in �Wyatt� �Shakespeare� or another author we�re reading

3. Search and scan some articles

4. Report your findings to the class and Dr. Hayward on Tuesday

A. Scanning

1. do not upset the pattern of words

2. do not upset the way a sentence is said

EXEMPLARY COUPLET:

�True ease in writing comes from art, not chance

As those move easiest who�ve learned to dance.�

B.

Q: Why think about the art of poetry when talking about Wyatt and Surrey (as opposed to Chaucer)?

A: Because Wyatt and Surrey, lacking good content, are otherwise boring. Sonnets are interesting because of their art, not their content.

C. Typical sonnet content can be reduced to:

1. Love is pretty good, but sometimes can be a real bitch.

2. Court life is lousy because people are lousy at it; I think I�ll give it up.

D. It ain�t what you do, it�s the way that you do it.

a. This is the secret of Renaissance verse.

b. Incidentally, Dr. Hayward is the world�s leading expert on computer modeling of poetic media.

E. Bill Patterson asks: If there is no content, where is the art?

F. Dr. Hayward asks: Is it possible to have art in which the content is unimportant?

1. an ee cummings poem is cited as an example of content being unimportant and art being present

2. Rob thinks humans are abstract, therefore find meaning in anything

3. Bill thinks we should make a definition of art

4. Rob thinks we should define the purpose of art as entertainment or instruction

5. Dr. Hayward wonders whether instruction can�t be entertainment and vice versa.

6. Dr. Hayward wonders about a deep connection between Britney Spears and Sebastian Bach, (B.S. and S.B) then wonders whether he�s not being too much like Jack Handey.

(see: http://quotes.prolix.nu/Humor/Jack_Handey/)

7. The question is raised �If a poem falls in a forest and no one hears it . . .� ?

G. Kant is brought to bear

a. Kant was a later 18th century German philosopher

b. Considered an Enlightenment thinker in the new age of reason

c. Critique of Pure Reason proposes art is a problem because it is against reason, yet has an effect on people.

d. Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful

1. nature of the sublime

2. paradox: the premise is art seems to have no purpose

3. �purposivelessness of purpose� � art�s purpose is have no purpose

4. this is good because a pragmatic life in which all has purpose would be shallow, empty and dull

H. Sufficient and Insufficient definitions of art

a. �Art teaches� is insufficient

b. �Art entertains� is insufficient

c. �Art is� is sufficient because art is self-sufficient

1. a poem shouldn�t mean but be

2. poets are unacknowledged legislators of the world

I. Propaganda

a. Walter Benjamin

1. propaganda value and effect of art

2. historical philosophy

b. question of artist�s intent

1. intent (to promote Christian God or endorse the Democratic party, for example) is part of the artist�s material, but not the end product

2. this is an actual, not semantic distinction

3. Therefore Michaelangelo and Rembrandt (if they intended to promote morality or Christian God worship) are not propagandists, but artists

J. Gap between intent and perception

a. This is a good thing

b. Otherwise art would be like math with a �Eureka!� response and no need to return to a work more than once

c. For example, Clint Eastwood�s film, Mystic River, has a simple message that we all know already: �Life is sad� but we won�t watch it just to get the message

K. James Turrell (Dr. Hayward�s favorite artist)

a. Installation at the Mattress Factory on Pittsburgh�s Northside

1. an installation is a space in which things are put and viewers can walk through, even touch the work(s)

2. a map to the Mattress Factory was drawn on the chalk board

3. Turrell�s installation is an ancient volcanic stone with tunnels carved through it where light comes through.

4. Turrell�s is a work in progress (over the last 20 years).

5. Turrell�s work doesn�t mean anything

A. Popular in Italy

1. Dante

2. Petrarch

B. Distinguishing features

1. 14 lines

2. specific rhyme scheme

3. situation/comment, question/answer rhetorical structure

4. stanzaic structure

C. Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme

1. rhyme: two words in which the last accented vowel and all following consonants and syllables match

2. rhyme scheme

a. we label schemes with letters

b. for example, Wyatt�s �Farewell Love� has a rhyme scheme of abba, abba, cddc, ee

c. we label sets of rhyme schemes

1. couplet: 2 lines with the same rhyme scheme

2. quatrain: 4 lines with the same rhyme scheme

3. sestet: 6 lines with the same rhyme scheme

4. octave: 8 lines with the same rhyme scheme

d. two lines about a young beef cow is �veal couplet�

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