| The student will write three poetry book reviews after approving
with me which track he or she intends to take for the course. Each poetry book
review will be three-to-five-pages in length, double-spaced. The review will seek to
evaluate the effectiveness of a book of poems as poetry. This involves a discussion
of themes, metaphor, symbols, poetic diction and language, etc. Keep in mind that
this is an evaluation, so you may find the book of poems deserves high praise, a mixed
response, even rejection. The student may choose any of the
books from the Modern and Contemporary Christian Poets list
that is not to be covered in class presentations. (I've provided a short list below
for those who wish to narrow their options.) Copies of the review will be made for
students in our class, but the review will not be presented during class time. Two
students cannot review the same book, so you need to confirm with me your choices.
I'll keep a master sign-up list.
You should also include a copy of each final draft on a
computer disk along with the print version when submitted to me.
Some Options for the Book Review
- John Betjeman, Collected Poems
- Bruce Bond, Radiography
- Ernesto Cardenal, Apocalypse, and Other Poems
- Robert Cording, Heavy Grace
- Alfred Corn, Stake: Poems, 1972-1992
- Morri Creech, Paper Cathedrals
- Donald Davie, To Scorch or Freeze: Poems About the Sacred
- Laura Fargas, An Animal of the Sixth Day
- X. J. Kennedy, The
Beasts of Bethleham
- Jane Kenyon, Otherwise : New and Selected Poems
- Sydney Lea, To the Bone: New and Selected Poems
- Vassar Miller, If I Had Wheels or Love: Collected
Poems
- Walter McDonald, All Occasions
- Pat Mora, Aunt Carmen’s Book of Practical Saints
- Molly Peacock, Cornucopia: New and Selcted Poems
- Gjertrud Schnackenberg, Supernatural Love: Poems,
1978-1992
- Nancy Willard, Swimming Lessons: New and Selected Poems
- Karol Wojtyla, The Place Within: The Poetry of John Paul II
|