EN227 WEEK ONE INTRODUCTION

CLOSE READING Wikipedia: “Close reading describes, in literary criticism, the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text. Such a reading places great emphasis on the single particular over the general, paying close attention to individual words, syntax, and the order in which sentences and ideas unfold as they are read.: (See also: “practical criticism”)

SOME NOTES ON METANARRATIVES Central point: best essays and exams construct narratives out of detail, rather than other way around I will say this again: text first, context second The way to focus on details is to “read” them: produce extended interpretations of them

GENRE, INTERVENTION, DETAIL Often the hardest question: “why is this a poem?” Every literary work an intervention in a genre Choice of poetry often taken for granted Key to this course: individual detail vs. grand narrative We will come to the course narratives later, once we have details down A literary text should be able to surprise us Course synthesis Exam and essays will ask about the period; but you must answer these questions via small details

A PLEA FOR THE BASICS The best reading addresses the most basic, and so fundamental, aspects of poetry As a researcher, I find myself reading and re- reading basic guides to poetry Continually undoing our training in how to read poetry—and, indeed, how to read

THE POEM AND ITS TEXT TO BE CONSIDERED FIRST

LANGUAGE GO HERE FIRST “Close reading”/”practical criticism” Polyvalence (multiple meanings) Clarification (single meanings) Nonsense (meaninglessness) Sound Repetition Beginning of words End of words Middle of words Rhyme

PERFORMANCE Oral presence Are speeches hard, or even impossible, to say out loud? Do the speeches arrange speech in particular ways? Is there a rhythm to the words, or some other oral ordering? Embodiment Does the poem intend that any particular sort of person say the poem? Does the poem describe a speaker, and if so that speaker’s body?

PERFORMANCE Audience Is the poem’s speaker addressing a particular person, or people, within the poem? Does the poem agree or disagree with these people? Is the poem meant to be popular—for a nation, say—or to speak to a small audience? Is it written as though it is expecting itself to be heard, or not? On a different level: is/was the poem itself addressed to particular people? How does their presence appear within the poem?

FORM How is the poem divided? Lines How long, and what metric? (e.g. how are sounds organized within the line?) Is there a structure by which lines refer to each other—rhyme, say, or the repetition of sounds? What units are the lines divided into? What can we say about these units?

THE POEM AND ITS CONTEXT* TO BE CONSIDERED SECOND *Historical context, tradition, relationship to other poems, place in anthology…

TYPE OF POEM Genre and literary period How does this poem compare with other poems of its type? How does it compare with other poems of this type from this period? How does it compare with its period more generally?

HISTORICAL CONTEXT When was the poem written, and where? Was the poem written for particular publisher, group, person? How do elements of this historical period appear within the poem? What is the poem’s attitude, or attitudes, towards its time? Popularity Was the poem written for a wide or a specific audience?

POLITICS What do we mean by politics? Then: how does this “politics” appear within the poem? Politics Conservative? Emergent or progressive? Incoherent? Some combination of all of these?

“THE AUTHOR” GO HERE LAST, IF AT ALL What do we mean when we say “the author”? How does the poem relate to this author’s other works? How is “the author” present in the poem, if at all?