I give frequent quizzes, a midterm and a final, and require a fully developed term paper. This course in an opportunity for instruction, inspiration, practice, and criticism of the advanced writer of poetry. I usually require two poems each week. The second poem each week is completely the poet's choice. I require each student to produce by the end of the course a 20-25 page portfolio of original poetry.
Revision is stressed and encouraged.
However, the literature is restricted by genre to the novel, most often, though not exclusively, as written in the United States from the 19th Century to the present. Often I focus upon comparing and contrasting works from pre to post World War II while at the same time tracing the development of the form and the nature of our ideas of fiction itself. In the future, I plan to enlarge this perspective to include authors such as Atwood, Davidson, Marquez, Rhys, and Borges to explore the comparison among and between the novel as represented in both North and South American novels.