douglas.basford

English 390 - Creative Writing (Poetry)
Spring 2009
T Th 12:30 - 1:50pm
 

Course Description

This workshop-seminar takes metamorphosis to be indispensable
to poetry. Topics and points of departure will include metamorphoses
in Ovid; the assumption of personae or voices in poems; the rich,
vibrant, crucial tradition of literary translation; the migration of ideas,
forms, texts, and persons across borders; the image/concept of the
poet-creator as alchemist; the transformation of visual art into
poetry (ekphrasis) and other intermedia work; collages, centos, and
other ways of "writing through" texts; and collaborative works.
Students are expected to actively engage with various aspects of
transmutations they encounter throughout the course readings and
within their own and other students' work, and to regularly submit
their writing to the workshop for review. Class participation
is imperative. Permission of the instructor is required.

Registered students should send two of their poems by email (either
as Word attachments or in the email message itself) IN ADVANCE of
the first class to Douglas Basford at dbasfordATbuffaloDOTedu. (This
is not a screening mechanism—I just want to get a sense of where
you're coming
from!)
 

Provisional Text List
Ovid, Metamorphoses, tr. Charles Martin (other translations ok)
A Poet's Guide to Poetry, Mary Kinzie
The Reality Street Book of Sonnets, ed. Jeff Hilson
Course pack