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Image, Shape and Music

Module description

The module aims to introduce you to the central importance of Image, Shape and Music in writing poetry, and will appeal to creative writers from a range of backgrounds, as well as to dedicated poets. You will explore a wide range of approaches to contemporary poetry, and poetic techniques, including free verse and some stanzaic arrangements, as well as other common poetic techniques such as: estrangement, personification, beginnings/endings, ‘slow reveals’, and the use of controlled energy and direction in a poem. You will explore, rhythm and measure, and the musical world of the poem’s language. 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 self-reflection. You will explore your responses to aspects of poetry, discussing your own work alongside the work of your peers and the work of other published poets.

Module aims - intentions of the module

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 musicality, and overall shape and direction of our works.

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

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Demonstrate an informed appreciation of formal techniques and imaginative expression in creative writing
• 5. Present persuasive oral arguments concerning your own creative writing and the work of other authors, both peers and published writers
• 6. Articulate a broad range of appropriate critical and professional terminology

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Through seminar work, demonstrate advanced communication skills, and an ability to work both individually and in groups
• 8. Demonstrate advanced skills in creative expression, and a capacity to write clearly and correctly
• 9. Through research for seminars and essays, demonstrate advanced proficiency in information retrieval and analysis

Syllabus plan

While the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some of the following topics:

• Form and free verse
• Imagery – the function of the ‘Objective Correlative’, and different types of imagery
• Stanzas – controlling shape and direction through stanza forms
• Beginnings, Endings and Titles
• Voice, language, vocabulary, idiom, register and tone
• Verbs, energy and dynamics
• The ‘Slow Reveal’
• Orality, Music and the ‘Sound of Sense’
• Measure and rhythm
• Creating direction, perspective, movement, and guiding the reader’s mind’s eye
• Estrangement, personification and other recognisable poetic techniques
• Themes, and structuring a portfolio

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

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 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 poets new to them, and to use these as a basis for comparison/discussion of your own poems in your self-reflexive critical essay. Students should begin with some anthologies of contemporary poetry and narrow down their search from these general starting resources.

Suggested reading:

• Astley, Neil. Ed. Astley, Neil. Staying Alive (Bloodaxe, 2002)
• Brown, Andy.  Exurbia. (Worple Press, 2015)
• Dooley, Maura, ed. Making for Planet Alice (Bloodaxe, 1997)
• Hulse, Kennedy, Morley, eds. The New Poetry (Bloodaxe, 1994)
• Lumsden, Roddy, ed. Identity Parade: New British and Irish Poets (Bloodaxe, 2010)

Suggested ‘Self-Reflexive’ Reading:

• 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)
• Herbert & Hollis, ed. Strong Words: modern poets on modern poetry (Bloodaxe, 2000)
• Preminger, Alex, et al, eds., Princeton Encyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics, (Macmillan, 1993)
• Over 300 quality interviews with significant international authors: The Paris Review– http://www.parisreview.com

Students might also read the poetry in these magazines and periodicals from the library:

• Agenda
• American Poetry Review
• Modern Poetry in Translation
• Paris Review
• PN Review
• Wasafiri

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11219

Key words search

English, Creative Writing, Poetry