Report Specs

Report on Contemporary Poets, written and oral

To Do:

Stage one is to pick a poet whose work and biography are available.  I suggest creating a short list, perhaps even a prioritized short list, from which your poet can be selected.

The poet needs to have published the bulk of his/her work in English since 1960. One place to start your research on this poet is the following site:   http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

You have the freedom to shape your reports in a number of ways, but you should have read enough of the poet’s published work to be able to describe its characteristics, concerns, and forms.  The report will be given both orally and in writing. The written report will be 1000-1500 words, exclusive of reprinted poems and a works read list, and the oral report should take you 20-30 minutes of class time. We will schedule these for after Easter break.

To Avoid:

Do not pick someone with whom you are already intimately familiar, especially someone on whom you have done research for another class, whether it be a high school class taken last century or Dr. Woolsey’s contemporary poets class taken last fall.  Do not choose Rod McKuen or Shel Silverstein or Helen Steiner Rice. [There may be other “forbidden” poets, so check your choices with me.]

The report should include the following:

a.       A descriptive overview (kinds of poems, themes and interests, techniques and devices)

b.      A closer look at one or two poems, at stanzas, and/or at a series of significant lines

c.       Any biographical information that is relevant to the poetry. Life facts for their own sake may not be helpful for this assignment.

d.      The report may include criticism if relevant criticism is available. It may also include relevant information about the “school” or movement the poet has been associated with. The important issue is how you interact with the poetry, not hot now well you do library work.

The oral report (20-30 minutes) is designed to introduce your classmates to your poet, to add a contemporary poet to the list of poets or books they will want to read. You may incorporate video feeds of your poet reading or discussing his/her work, or of others commenting on the poet’s work.  You may also create class or group exercises with selected poems in an effort to help us dig into your poet’s work. Your objectives for the oral report should be clarity, focus, and purpose rather than exhaustiveness.

The written report (1500 words, max; 1000 words, minimum) is a companion to the oral report. It is addressed to the senior poet specifically. Without video and without exercises, you are to provide this reader with a discussion of your poet through exposition, analysis, close reading (perhaps), and focused biography. Document your sources, please, using MLA Style criteria, with a “Works Read” list.

The written report is due within a week of the oral report, although it may be turned in early.

Note:  One way to think of the oral report is that you are teaching a class in which you are providing a means for the others to connect with this poet and the poetry.  The written report is where you demonstrate your engagement with the poet/work specifically to the senior poet. The material you cover may be identical, but your specific audience and what that audience needs to know differs.