ENG 156 - Reading Like a Writer: Poetry

The first requirement in becoming a writer is being a reader. An introductory exploration into the form and practice of poetry, focusing on the choices writers make in writing in either fixed-form or free-form styles by manipulating line and stanza breaks; using concrete imagery; manipulating language by using figures of speech; making language musical by using rhyme, meter, and consonant and vowel sounds; and how they work together to create, manipulate and support the various forms of irony (verbal, dramatic, situational) through which the poem delivers its emotional and meaningful content. Surveying works of technical merit from both new and recognized masters of some of the schools of poetry – such as, but not limited to Concrete and Confessional Poetry, the San Francisco and Harlem Renaissances, Modernism, New Formalism and Slam – students will be expected to engage in both analytical and creative responses in order to improve and hone their own poetry.

Prerequisite(s): ENG 101
General Education Elective(s): Humanities

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