LIT 262 - American Poets

1. Analyze literary texts by American poets, including a focus on both meaning and form.
2. Explain the social, historical, and cultural contexts of American poetic tradition(s).
3. Interrogate historical and socio-cultural biases that resulted in the inclusion and exclusion of historically marginalized writers within the American literary canon.
4. Make critical arguments for the interpretation of American poets through writing.

1. Analyze Poems for Meaning and Form
   1. Show how form relates to meaning by analyzing a range of techniques, including imagery, voice, sound, rhythm, and formal experimentation.
   2. Interpret poems using contemporary literary approaches and theories.
   3. Demonstrate the ability to practice close reading.
2. Explain the social, historical, and cultural contexts of American poetic tradition(s).
   1. Explain the development of various schools of American poetics and trace their inclusion in or exclusion from the canon.
   2. Evaluate American poetic tradition(s) in terms of political, historical, psychological, and philosophical contexts.
3. Interrogate historical and socio-cultural biases that resulted in the inclusion and exclusion of historically marginalized writers within the American literary canon.
   1. Examine history and patterns of inclusion and exclusion within American poetic tradition(s) as they relate to race, class, gender, and difference in marginalized communities.
   2. Explain cultural biases that produce, reproduce, and maintain exclusionary practices as they relate to a modern understanding of American poetic tradition(s).
4. Make critical arguments for the interpretation of American poets through writing.
   1. Use writing and discussion for critical analysis, interpretation, and evaluating evidence.
   2. Provide convincing textual evidence to support analytical interpretations.
   3. Support claims about the interpretation of literary texts using textual evidence.
5. Intensive Writing and Critical Inquiry
   1. Produce written discourse in more than one assignment through papers, reports, quizzes, and tests, which includes a minimum word standard of 3,000 words.
   2. Written assignments emphasize critical inquiry which includes the gathering, interpreting, and evaluating of evidence.
   3. Includes a formal out-of-class paper of at least 1,500 words which requires critical inquiry and where the writer develops and supports a main idea.
   4. Explicit writing instruction with timely feedback to help students improve their writing and critical inquiry skills is part of the course’s content.
   5. The evaluation of written assignments must include the overall quality of written work and critical inquiry, as measured by a rubric.
   6. At least 50% of the student’s grade must be based on the written work and critical inquiry assignments.