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[Spring 2007]
ENGL W3840y Studies in Poetry:
Satire
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Prof.
Paul Violi
The course readings and discussions
will focus on satirical masterpieces from The Restoration
to recent times, followed by a wide selection of mostly
shorter poems by 19th and 20th century poets.
By studying poems by satire's most adroit and enjoyable
practitioners, students will examine critical opinions
and ideas about the nature of this rich, varied and "untamed
genre" and explore the cultural and historical environments
in which it has developed over the centuries. The knowledge
they gain from these poems should change or enhance their
own preferences, not only in satiric verse but for the
art of poetry in general, and provide a basis for comparison
that they can apply to appreciating satire in other art
forms as well.
Students should understand that satire, conventionally
described as holding human folly and short-comings up
to ridicule, has for the most part been a very public-and
popular-type of poetry, dealing with social, sexual, theological,
philosophical, or personal matters in ways that vary from
nuanced to harsh, gentle to mordant, comic to vicious,
outrageous, offensive, misanthropic, obscene. It's nature
is to use humor and wit as weaponry to attack, destroy,
defy as much as to correct, reform or chide. Fairness
is not one of its notable qualities.
EVALUATION: Final grade will be based on two papers,
two short imitations, one exam. N.B. Topics for the papers
must be submitted beforehand for approval. Though required,
the imitations can lower a student's grade only if they
are not handed in. (I.e., the bravery of the attempt is
what matters.) Both at least a page in length, the first
should be in heroic couplets and contain a Homeric simile,
the second in the style of any modern satirical poet.
Punctual attendance is crucial. |
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SYLLABUS
NOTE: Page numbers refer to the Norton Anthology (N).
Otherwise, poems can be found in the course packet or
in author's required text. Students should review section
A27 (on literary terms) in the Norton as soon as they
can.
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| Week 1: |
Introduction
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| Week 2: |
Rochester (John Wilmot):: A Satire
Against Reason and Mankind, The Disabled Debauchee, In
the Fields of Lincoln's Inn, Nelly, A Ramble in St. James
Park, To His Sacred Majesty, Upon Nothing, N 2167-2172
and in coursebook.
Dryden: The Art of Satire, N 2131.
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| Week 3: |
Dryden: MacFlecknoe, N 2111.
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| Week 4: |
Pope: An Essay on Man, N 2540. Epistle
to Dr. Arbuthnot. N 2548
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| Week 5: |
Pope: Rape of the Lock N 2513.
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| Week 6: |
Pope: Impromptu to Lady Winchelsea
N 2595.
Anne Finch, Countess of Winchelsea: The Answer,
N 2596.
Swift: The Lady's Dressing Room, N 2590.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu N 2593.
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| Week 7: |
Johnson: The Vanity of Human Wishes,
N 2666.
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| Week 8: |
Byron: English Bards and Scotch Reviewers;
Vision of Judgement.
First paper and imitation due.
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| Week 9: |
Byron: Don Juan, Canto I.
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| Week 10: |
Byron: Don Juan, Canto II.
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| Week 11: |
Fitz-Greene Halleck ("Fanny"
excerpts).
Leigh Hunt: "The Fish, The Man, and the Spirit".
Peacock: "The War Song of Dinas Vawr".
Lewis Carroll: "The White Knight's Song"
(Cp. Wordsworth's "Resolution and Independence").
W.S. Gilbert (& Sullivan): "If You're
Anxious for to Shine in the High Aesthetic Line"
(Cp. Walter Pater).
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| Week 12: |
Cummings: various
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| Week 13: |
Fearing: various
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| Week 14: |
Koch: Fresh Air, The Art of Love,
sections from Ko, or a Season on Earth.
Pound: "L'Homme Moyen Sensuel," Auden:
"The Unknown Citizen" Masters: "Petit
the Poet", "Margaret Fuller Slack".
Robinson, Langston Hughes, Ferlinghetti, Cullen:
various.
Second paper due. |
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TEXTS
— Course Reader: Poems by contemporary and modern
poets and excerpts from critical works (including A.B.
Kernan's "A Theory of Satire", Maynard Mack's
"The Muse of Satire", David Worcester's "The
Art of Satire", R. Braverman's "Satiric Embodiments".)
— Anatomy of Criticism, Northrop Frye, Princeton
U.P.
— The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol.
C. W.W. Norton.
— The Anatomy of Satire: Gilbert Highet.
— Byron's Poetry, Norton Critical Editions. W.W.
Norton.
— E. E. Cummings: Selected Poems, ed. R.S. Kennedy.
W.W. Norton,
— Kenneth Fearing: Selected Poems, ed. R. Polito.
Library of America.
— Kenneth Koch: On the Great Atlantic Rainway,
Selected Poems 1950-1988. Knopf.
Recommended:
— George Saintsbury, A History of English Prosody,
Book VIII Chapter I
— The 18th Century: Pope and the Later Couplet
(http://www.dirk-johnson.com/prosody/saintsbury).
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