Assignments
ENGL 4446/5446 Modern Poetry, Spring 2026
M 5:00-7:45 p.m., Arts & Sciences 342
Response
In the 3-4 page response paper, you will react to a poet in general and then focus on one poem in particular. What issues do the poet and poem raise, and what do you think about those ideas? What is the poem saying to you, and what do you reply? What questions do you have for and about the poet and the poem?
In class, you will read the poem aloud in class, informally present your response paper (without simply reading it), and broach questions for class discussion.
Sign Up
Sign up here. Confer with your classmates doing the close reading paper in order to select different poems.
Parameters
- Length: 3-4 pages for the response, 3-5 minutes for the informal presentation
- Format: MLA style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
- Due Dates:
- The written response is due in GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Response on the Monday before we are scheduled to discuss the text in class.
- The informal presentation is due on the day we are scheduled to discuss the text in class.
- Grades: You will be graded on your ability to summarize the main ideas of the poet and poem as well as informally present those ideas to the class. Retrieve your graded assignment in GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Response approximately one week after you present to the class. Here's how to calculate your course grade.
Close Reading Paper and Presentation
You will collaborate with a classmate to to analyze a poem (or brief section of a long poem) in a formal 5-6 page paper and formal 5-7 minute presentation not including reading the passage aloud. Your essay and presentation should 1) do a line-by-line examination, interpreting its (for example, but not limited to) figurative language, diction, connotation, and symbol, and 2) arguing the poem's centrality to understanding the core conflicts and overall theme of the book of poetry from which it comes. Your essay should be driven by a thesis that argues the poem's theme and logically organized by close reading of the text: unpack the tension and conflict, connotation and diction, idea and theme. Your well-organized presentation should clearly convey your ideas to the class, and each member should speak during the presentation.
Sign Up
Sign up here. Confer with your classmates doing the response paper in order to select different poems.
Parameters
- Length: paper 5-6 pages, presentation 7-10 minutes
- Format: MLA style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
- Due: The paper is due in GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Close Reading and Presentation on the presentation date.
- Group Policy: Each group member is responsible for staying connected with the group, attending meetings, actively participating in meetings, doing her delegated work, i.e., contributing her fair share to the project. In order to hold singular members accountable in a team project, each group member should individually compose and submit to GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Close Reading and Presentation - Individual Evaluation a paragraph that assesses their own performance and their peer's service to the assignment. If it becomes apparent that a group member did not participate (skipped meetings, didn't complete her assigned work, etc.), that member will be assessed individually rather than receive the group grade.
- Grade: Your assignment will be assessed in terms of understanding of the poem's literary elements, analysis of the poem's core conflict and overall theme, and presentation skills; your project will be graded approximately one week after submission in GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Close Reading and Presentation. Due to GeorgiaVIEW limitations, I cannot return your graded paper unless you upload it to the Dropbox. Here's how to calculate your course grade.
Exam
Undergraduates will take an in-class exam composed of 2 comparison/contrast essays selected from a set of 4-6 questions. We will generate topics as a class on Wednesday, February 18 and I will create 4-6 questions from those topics for the exam on Wednesday, February 25.
Poets and Books
- TBA
Topics
- TBA
Parameters
TBA
Wild Card
While the close reading paper and presentation compels undergraduate students to collaborate on a line-by-line explication of a particular poem, and while the annotated bibliography and presentation obliges graduate students to research and teach a poet, the wild card paper affords all students a variety of interpretive options. Choose one of the alternative assignments below, keeping in mind that your poet must be included on the syllabus before March 16 and you can not repeat your poet selection in the research paper.
- book: Interpret the theme of a book of poetry.
- contemporary influence: Analyze how a modernist poet influences a contemporary poet (subject to professor approval) in terms of poetic style and/or theme.
- response: Without repeating an exam essay, examine how two modernist poets respond to each other in terms of poetic style and/or theme.
Parameters
- Length: Undergraduate Students: 6-8 pages
- Graduate Students: 8-10 pages
- Format: MLA style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
- Due: The paper is due in GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Wild Card Paper on Wednesday, March 25.
- Grade: Your paper will be assessed in terms of its thesis, analysis of poetic issues and/or styles, and comparative understanding of poems and/or poets and returned to you approximately one week after submission in GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Wild Card Paper.
Research Paper
TBA
Undergraduate Students
TBA
Graduate Students
TBA
Parameters
TBA
Annotated Bibliography and Presentation
Graduates students will research a poet, compose an annotated bibliography of at least 10 scholarly sources interpreting the work, and teach the poet while highlighting one of the articles on the work to the class. The citations in the annotated bibliography should be formatted to MLA style, each annotation should be approximately 100 words long, and the bibliography should conclude with a one page long explanation and evaluation of why the source was selected to be taught to the class.
Sign Up
Sign up here.
Parameters
- Length: 10 100-word annotated bibliographies, a 1-page explanation of the teaching selection, a 30-45 minute teaching presentation
- Format: MLA Style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
- Due: The written component is due in GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Annotated Bibliography and Presentation on the scheduled presentation date.
- Grades: You will be graded on the quality of your research, the quality of your annotations, and your presentational/teaching ability. You can retrieve your graded assignment approximately one week after your presentation in GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Annotated Bibliography and Presentation. Here's how to calculate your course grade.
Book Review
While the annotated bibliography and presentation required you to research, evaluate, and teach a work of scholarly criticism on a postwar literary work, the book review compels you to read and evaluate an entire book of postwar American literary criticism. After consulting with the professor on a suitable book (for instance a book from which our class is reading an excerpt, or another of your choosing), write a 8-10 page essay that summarizes the book's overall theoretical/critical claim and then evaluates the thesis and methodology. Your essay should both appreciate and interrogate the book. The GeorgiaVIEW course packet contains book reviews by TBA; and you can find more examples using GALILEO.
Parameters
- Length: 8-10 pages
- Format: MLA Style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
- Due: The written component is due in GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Book Review on Wednesday, February 25.
- Grades: Your assignment will be graded on its appreciative, summary understanding of the theory as well as its ability to evaluate and interrogate the book. You can retrieve your graded assignment approximately one week after submission in GeorgiaVIEW > Assignments > Book Review. Here's how to calculate your course grade.