Image, Shape and Music
| Module title | Image, Shape and Music |
|---|---|
| Module code | EASM144 |
| Academic year | 2019/0 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Professor Andy Brown (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
Module description
The module aims to introduce you to the importance of image, music and shape in your writing, and will appeal to creative writers from a range of backgrounds, as well as dedicated poets. You will explore a wide range of approaches to contemporary poetry, and poetic forms and techniques, including techniques of free verse and of some set forms, such as stanzas, sonnets, prose poems and Imagist poems.
Module aims - intentions of the module
- You will work in a stimulating environment in which existing writing skills can be developed to a professional standard, and a portfolio of poetry produced alongside some critical writing and self-reflection. You will explore your responses to aspects of poetry, discussing your own work alongside the work of your peers.
- The module aims to foster the notion of literary poetry as a vehicle of imaginative, personal and cultural expression, and to develop and sustain features which are important to ALL writers – individual figurative language, tone and music, and overall shape and direction.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of presentation and formal layout and technical expertise in a variety of poetic forms and free verse
- 2. Demonstrate an advanced awareness and understanding of the broad nature of contemporary poetry and poetics
- 3. Demonstrate an advanced ability to synthesise a range of themes, or to explore an in-depth narrower range of themes across a wider range of poetic approaches
- 4. Demonstrate an advanced ability to analyse the work of contemporary writers at an advanced level, especially from the point of view of techniques and writing processes
- 5. Evaluate your own work and the work of others at an advanced level, and know how to justify those evaluations in depth, and with reference to contemporary writing and theory
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 6. Demonstrate an advanced and intellectually mature appreciation of formal techniques and imaginative expression in creative writing
- 7. Analyse and critically examine, at an advanced level, diverse forms of writing
- 8. Present sustained and persuasive written and oral arguments concerning your own creative writing and the work of other authors, both peers and published authors, and to use such ideas relating to your own work to develop your creative ideas
- 9. Demonstrate an advanced and autonomous understanding of a variety of theoretical positions in the appropriate critical and professional terminology
- 10. Demonstrate an ability to independently originate creative ideas and to respond positively to appropriate criticism of your work
- 11. Demonstrate a consistent ability to create imaginative written work in a variety of forms [appropriate to genres/styles covered by the module]
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 12. Through seminar work, demonstrate advanced communication skills, and an ability to work both individually and in groups
- 13. Through writing essays and creative work, demonstrate advanced research and bibliographic skills, an advanced and intellectually mature capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument, advanced skills of creative expression, and a capacity to write clear and correct prose
- 14. Through research for seminars and essays, demonstrate an advanced proficiency in information retrieval and analysis
- 15. Through research, seminar work and research for written pieces, demonstrate an awareness of readership, publishability, including professional accomplishment, and an understanding of the purpose of formal structures, layouts, and techniques
Syllabus plan
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
- Introduction – form and free verse
- Stanzas – couplets and tercets
- Free verse workshop
- Stanzas – quatrains and cinquains
- The contemporary sonnet
- Discussing the unassessed student research assignments
- Free verse workshop
- The prose poem
- Free verse workshop
- Syllabics – syllabic poems, haiku, tanka, renga, Li Po sonnet
- Verse workshop – student research summaries – assessment rationale – Q and A
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | 278 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 22 | Seminars |
| Guided independent study | 33 | Study group meetings and preparation |
| Guided independent study | 70 | Seminar preparation (individual) |
| Guided independent study | 175 | Reading, research and essay preparation |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research assignment | 1000 words | 2, 4-7, 14-15 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up. Cohort feedback via seminars |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A portfolio of original, new poems | 75 | 250 lines | 1, 3, 8-10, 12-13 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up. Cohort feedback via seminars |
| A critical essay based on module research, reading and the creative process. | 25 | 2000 words | 2, 4-7, 14-15 | Feedback sheet with opportunity for tutorial follow-up. Cohort feedback via seminars |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio of original new poems (250 lines) | Portfolio of original new poems (250 lines) | 1, 3, 8-10, 12-13 | Referral/Deferral period |
| Critical essay (2000 words) | Critical essay (2000 words) | 2, 4-7, 14-15 | Referral/Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will be capped at 50%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Students are expected to read widely in contemporary/modern poetry and to be able to contextualise their reading and writing through contemporary and modern poetics. Students are expected to read the works of at least two contemporary/modern poets new to them, in addition to the key texts.
Core Reading:
- Boland, Eavan & Strand, Mark, Eds., The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (Norton, 2000)
- Heaney, Seamus, New & Selected Poems 1966 – 1987 (Faber & Faber, 1990)
Secondary Reading:
- Allnutt, D’Aguiar, Edwards, Mottram, eds. The New British Poetry (Paladin, 1988)
- Astley, Neil. Ed. Astley, Neil. Staying Alive (Bloodaxe, 2002)
- Brown, Andy. The Fool and the Physician (Salt, 2012)
- Brown, Andy. ed. Binary Myths 1 & 2 conversations with poets and poet-editors (Stride, 2004)
- Cook, Jon, Poetry In Theory: an anthology 1900- 2000 (Blackwells, 2004)
- Dooley, Maura, ed. Making for Planet Alice (Bloodaxe, 1997)
- Godbert, G. Freedom to Breathe (Stride, 2002)
- Heaney, Seamus, Finders Keepers: Selected Prose 1971 – 2001 (Faber & Faber, 2002)
- Herbert & Hollis, ed. Strong Words: modern poets on modern poetry (Bloodaxe, 2000)
- Hulse, Kennedy, Morley, eds. The New Poetry (Bloodaxe, 1994)
- Messerli, Douglas, ed. From the Other Side of the Century, (Sun and Moon, 1994)
- Morrison & Motion, eds. Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry (Penguin, 1982)
- Paterson, Don, Ed., 101 Sonnets from Shakespeare to Heaney (Faber & Faber, 1999)
- Paterson, Don and Brown, Clare. Don’t Ask me What I Mean (Picador, 2004)
- Preminger, Alex, et al, eds., Princeton Encyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics, (Macmillan, 1993)
- The Penguin Book of Zen Poetry (Penguin, 1981)
Students should regularly read these magazines and periodicals from the library:
- Agenda
- American Poetry Review
- Hudson Review
- Kunapipi
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Overland
- Paris Review
- Parnassus
- PN Review
- Poetry Chicago
- Stand Magazine
- Wasafiri
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 7 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | November 2011 |
| Last revision date | 07/11/2018 |
