Course Syllabus

ENGL 2240 Introduction to Poetry

Course Description

This course provides a critical approach to poetry's forms and developments, including historical trends and/or modern movements. Emphasis is on recognizing poetic devices and understanding, and responding to poetry in all its forms.

Justification

An ability to read poetry well is central to understanding and experiencing the world's literature. In addition, the course helps students to apply aesthetic understanding to life experiences as well as understand and value their own language and culture while deepening their connections to other populations and cultures. This course provides variety in the available options Snow College students have in literary studies. The course fulfills a General Education requirement in Humanities and provides a good introduction to literature for English and education majors. This course is similar to ENGL 2240 taught at Utah transfer institutions.

General Education Outcomes

1. A student who completes the GE curriculum has a fundamental knowledge of human cultures and the natural world. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to closely read and analyze a wide selection of poetry and explore the ways that poetry represents knowledge and individual experience within the context of both human cultures and the natural world.
2. A student who completes the GE curriculum can read and research effectively within disciplines. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to closely read and analyze a broad range of poetry from different time periods and locations. They will also be able to effectively research the biographical, historical, and cultural context of representative texts.
3. A student who completes the GE curriculum can draw from multiple disciplines to address complex problems. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to apply knowledge of sound, rhythm, visual imagery, oral history and presentation, and visual art to analyze both contemporary and historical examples of poetry.
4. A student who completes the GE curriculum can reason analytically, critically, and creatively. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to read, creatively interpret, analyze, and critically respond to poetry. They will be able to use reading strategies to understand the use of poetic literary devices.

General Education Knowledge Area Outcomes

1. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to understand both oral and written poetic expression and examine the creation of knowledge and the expression of the human condition through poetry. They will be able to examine poetry from different cultural, historical, and artistic perspectives to develop an appreciation for the complexity of philosophical thought and experience.  Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to understand both oral and written poetic expression and examine the creation of knowledge and the expression of the human condition through poetry. They will be able to examine poetry from different cultural, historical, and artistic perspectives to develop an appreciation for the complexity of philosophical thought and experience.
2. EXPLAIN: Explain how humanities artifacts take on meaning within networks or systems (such as languages, cultures, values, and worldviews) that account for the complexities and uncertainties of the human condition. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to closely read, analyze, and synthesize poetic texts and explain how the evolution of poetry from an oral tradition to a written artistic form follows historical trends related to poetic performance and presentation. Students will be able to explain how human experience and literary movements are interconnected and represented through different types of poetic expression that reflect various worldviews.
3. ANALYZE: Analyze humanities artifacts according to humanities methodologies, such as a close analysis, questioning, reasoning, interpretation, and critical thinking. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to analyze and form critical and aesthetic judgements of different poetic forms and structures. Students will also be able to analyze and understand how the use of figurative language (such as metaphor, simile, etc.), sound devices (such as rhythm, meter, alliteration, etc.), and sensory detail comprise the building blocks of poetry.
4. COMPARE AND CONTRAST: Compare and contrast diverse humanistic perspectives across cultures, communities, and/or time periods to explain how people make meaning of their lives. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to closely read and compare poetry from multiple cultures and time periods. They will be able to reflect on and apply their own human experience and compare that experience with poetic themes.
5. APPLY: Using humanities perspectives, reflect on big questions related to aesthetics, values, meaning, and ethics and how those apply to their own lives.  Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to reflect on, and apply, poetic texts and associated ideas and questions within the contexts of their individual experiences and larger community. They will be able to examine relevant values in representative texts and explore how they connect with their contemporary experiences.

Course Content

ENGL 2240 covers methods of reading and responding to poetry that include some combination of: reading to understand how things like tone, speaker, voice, setting and word choice impact a poem; being able to identify use of figurative language, ambiguity, symbolism, sound devices, form, and structure of poems; and responding to poetry from a place of individual reaction and critical appreciation.