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COURSE NUMBER: ENGL 391
COURSE TITLE: Creative Writing: Short Stories and Poetry
NAME OF INSTRUCTOR: Melissa Lacroix
CREDIT WEIGHT AND WEEKLY TIME DISTRIBUTION: credits 3(hrs lect 3 - hrs sem 0 - hrs lab 3)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will provide an introduction to the writing of short stories and poetry. We will read and discuss literary models of each form, but the critical focus will be on students’ work. Writing throughout the course, students will explore and experience the writer’s task, role, and creative process.

Prerequisites: ENGL 215, submission of a portfolio, and permission of instructor
REQUIRED TEXTS:
  • The Art of the Short Story: 52 Authors, Their Best Short Fiction, and Their Insights on Writing by Dana Gioa & R.s. Gwynn
  • The Writing Moment: A Practical Guide to Creating Poems by Daniel Scott Tysdal
MARK DISTRIBUTION IN PERCENT:
Poetry Presentation15%
Portfolio 125%
Portfolio 225%
Final Reading15%
Submission, Participation and Attendance10%
Feedback10%
100%
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
  • To enhance and encourage the love of creative writing as readers and writers.
  • To play in the large and varied world of poetry as readers and writers, honing our reading and writing skills as we become intimate with the elements that make a poem work.
  • To experience the creative process from first to final draft and become familiar with the benefits of workshopping with peers.
  • To have a portfolio of finished work for presentation to an audience.
LECTURE OUTLINE:
  • Introduction and elegy
  • Lyric and narrative
  • Sound
  • Sound poetry with guest
  • Voice and persona, confessional poetry
  • Imagery and imitation
  • Dramatic poetry with guest
  • Form, scansion and free verse
  • Spirituality in poetry
  • Spirituality/sacred interiority with guest
  • Political poetry and spoken word
  • Final workshop and prep for public reading
  • Public reading


Required texts, assignments, and grade distributions may vary from one offering of this course to the next. Please consult the course instructor for up to date details.

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