Syllabus

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Dickinson, Emily. The Complete Poems. Ed. Thomas H. Johnson. New York: Little,

1960.

---. Emily Dickinson: Selected Letters. Ed. Thomas H. Johnson. Cambridge:

Harvard UP, 1990.

Emily Dickinson: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Judith Farr. Englewood Cliffs,

NJ: Prentice, 1996.

The Emily Dickinson Handbook. Ed. Gudrun Grabher, Roland Hagenbuchle, and

Cristanne Miller. Amherst: U Massachusetts P, 1998.

Miller, Cristanne. Emily Dickinson: A Poet's Grammar. Cambridge: Harvard UP,

1987.

Sewall, Richard. The Life of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1994.

Visiting Emily. Ed. Sheila Coghill and Thom Tammaro. Iowa City: U of Iowa P, 2001.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

1. Major responsibility for organizing and leading one class discussion during the semester.

2. Weekly presentations, including theoretically informed short papers and oral presentations about the week's assigned texts.

3. A formal, twenty-minute presentation summarizing research investigation,
evidence, and conclusions for your seminar paper. Fifteen minute question and answer period will follow each presentation; all students should participate.

4. A written prospectus and a theoretically sound, carefully revised and documented paper developing an original thesis. The paper must be at least 20 pages.

5. Class participation. The crucial element in a successful seminar is the mutual
sharing of ideas, information, and insights by members of the class. You
will not be an effective participant if you merely sit and absorb others' comments. Students are expected to attend every class, without exception! Should a legitimate emergency occur, contact me immediately.

GRADING:

Weekly discussions, presentations, and papers will count 60%. The formal
presentation and final paper will count 40%.

Weekly reports and written assignments must be presented on time since the
whole class depends upon their information. Note that a summary of the final paper is to be presented to the class; thus, it too cannot be late. There is no flexibility in these deadlines, so plan ahead.

Please review the following expectations carefully.

*****************

English 492 Seminar Expectations

I. The General Weekly Responibilities include (1) completing the reading assignments before the class meeting, (2) writing the assigned short paper or preparing handouts for oral presentations, and may include (3) recitation of a Dickinson poem (depending upon your choice of poem and time).

Explications should always comment on the poem's meaning and relevant stylistic features. They should consult the Johnson and Franklin variorum editions (1955 and 1998) as well as the Manuscript Books, as well as resources such as the concordance to Dickinson's poems, the Emily Dickinson Handbook, and the OED. Among the points you might include in your explication are diction (connotation, allusion, repetition, ambiguity, punning, paradox, irony), imagery, metaphor and simile, symbol or allegory, the speaker and tone, the setting and situation, meter and rhyme scheme, sounds (alliteration, assonance, and consonance), theme(s), and the form. Explications and interpretations should take into account contemporary critical readings of the poem and may include other critical interpretations of the text besides your own. All papers should be carefully edited and should follow MLA citation forms. All work is under the Davidson College Honor Code and should be pledged.

Each student is expected to recite at least one Dickinson poem before the semester ends.

Each student is expected to contribute significantly to each class discussion. The class leader will assign other students particular areas of concentration for that week. It will be each student's responsibility to inform the leader of the poem he or she has chosen to explicate.

II. While student leaders should feel free to be as creative as possible in organizing activities for their seminar session, the major leadership responsibility always includes the following activities:

1) reading all assignments soon enough to be able to complete the other duties;

2) delegating and coordinating all student contributions to the seminar session including any written explications

3) suggesting additional theoretical readings, if needed;

4) assigning specific students areas of concentration for the session; for example:

*presenting research information to the class when appropriate, especially contemporary critical readings
*establishing the biographical context for the work(s) being discussed
*researching and reporting any historical and cultural events that may inform the interpretation of the text

5) effectively leading the class, which includes balancing the presentation of useful information with complete student participation in the class discussion (i.e. the leaders should not dominate, but should engage the whole group in exploring the topics).

Weekly Schedule:
Tue. August 27	Introduction to the course, its focus and methodologies Overview of Dickinson's life and scholarship about her work. Introductory handouts and Voices and Visions: Emily Dickinson
Tue. September 03	"A View of the World": 12 Poems by Dickinson. Sewall The Life of Emily Dickinson 17-27; 235-43 Miller A Poet's Grammar 1-112 Howe "These Flames and Generosities of the Heart" (Handout) Critical Essays 1-39; 130-40 Handbook 27-43; 356-84 consult Brita Lindberg-Seyersted The Voice of the Poet (on reserve) Writing assignment: Choose one poem to explicate (let this poem be one that's "new" to you, that is, one you've not explicated in another class); focus on Dickinson's language in your individual explication. For all explications, you must research the various versions of the poems using Johnson (1955), Franklin (Manuscript Books), and Franklin (1998). Attach copies of the versions to your explication. On or before Aug. 30, please check the list on my office door; write your poem number beside your name; if someone has already signed up for the poem you want to write about, choose another.
Tue. September 10	Dickinson and Higginson Read all Dickinson / Higginson correspondence (Letters) Sewall 532-67 Higginson. "Letter to a Young Contributor." Atlantic Monthly (April 1862): 26, 402-411. (handout) Handbook 44-60; 163-80 Writing assignment: Write an explication of one of the poems ED included in a letter to TWH and (based upon TWH's criticism of ED in the letters) conjecture how he might have assessed the poem. Check sign up sheet on or before Sept. 6.
Tue. September 17	Influences: poems by others paired with poems by ED Sewall 668-705 A Poet's Grammar 131-59 Handbook 93-109; 224-39 "A Sheaf of Poems" (handout) See reserve packet for particular essays on Brontë and Rosetti as well as selections of poems from which to choose. Writing assignment: Exploration and Report Choose one influence (see assignment sheet for choices) and connect that writer's work to Dickinson's using two specific poems as evidence. Focus on voice and theme. Check sign up sheet on or before Sept. 13th; leaders consult with class members.
Tue. September 24	Poems about Love Sewall 512-31 "The Master Letters" (Letters) Handbook 258-72; 342-55; 427-39 Critical Essays 76-88 Writing Assignment: Explicate a Dickinson love poem Check sign up sheet on or before Sept. 20; leaders consult.
Tue. October 01	Dickinson and Her Contemporaries Sewall 577-92 Emerson. "The Poet" (handout) Whitman. "Preface to 1855 Leaves of Grass" (handout) See Petrino Emily Dickinson and Her Contemporaries Chapters 1,2, 5, 6, 7(on reserve) Erkkila "Dickinson, Women Writers, and the Marketplace" (handout) See St. Armand Emily Dickinson and Her Culture 39-77 (on reserve) for further material See Walker The Nightingale's Burden: Women Poets and American Culture before 1900 See Nineteenth-Century American Women Poets: An Anthology, Ed. Paula Bennett for poems by other women writers Handbook 224-39; 183-96 Oral Reports (with appropriate handouts): Choose one woman poet who was a Dickinson contemporary. Research her work and introduce her style and themes to the class. Check sign up sheet on or before Sept. 27.
Tue. October 08	Poetry as Art Sewall 706-25 A Poet's Grammar 113-30 See Judith Farr The Passion of Emily Dickinson (on reserve); Handbook 61-92; 273-95 Critical Essays 248- 59; 206-224 Writing assignment: Choose one poem about poetry. Write an explication that explores the poems language and form and includes a statement about the poem's revelations of poetry as art. Check sign up sheet on or before Oct. 04.
Tue. October 22	Woman as Poet A Poet's Grammar 160-86; Rich "Vesuvius At Home: The Power of Emily Dickinson" (on reserve); Gelpi "Emily Dickinson and the Deerslayer: The Dilemma of the Woman Poet in America" (on reserve) Handbook 323-41 Critical Essays 119-29 Writing assignment: Choose a poem about poetry; explicate it focusing on gender. Check sign up sheet on or before Oct. 18. Formal Prospectus of Seminar Paper Due by 5:00 PM Friday, Oct. 25.
Tue. October 29	Speaking Poems Sewall 215-34 Franklin The Poems of Emily Dickinson (Variorum Edition 1998) 1-43 (reserve) Handbook 113-60. Critical Essays 240-47 Oral presentation: Be prepared to discuss one fascicle, showing its relation to individual poems by locating one poem you have previously explicated and situating it in the context of the fascicle in which it appears. Provide appropriate handouts for the class.
Tue. Novemer 05	Visiting Emily After reading the poems by contemporary poets, be prepared to discuss one in thorough detail with the class. Check the sign up sheet on my office door on or before Nov. 1.
Tue. November 12	Oral Presentations of seminar papers (25 minute limit, followed by 15 minutes discussion)
Tue. November 19	(More) Oral Presentations of seminar papers (25 minute limit, followed by 15 minutes discussion)
Tue. November 26	Individual Conferences Check the sign up sheet on my office door.
Tue. December 03	Seminar Dinner @ 6:00 PM followed by class discussion. Bring an original poem in the "spirit" of Dickinson
Tue. December 10	Evaluations and final discussion.
Final Draft of Seminar Paper Due by 5:00 PM Friday, December 13.

English 492 Syllabus