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EN3246 Literature and the Other Arts: Poetry and Painting 20011/12, Semester 2
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Module Description |
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This module approaches the relation between the visual and the verbal arts as a set of creative interactions which involve the use of different media for the purposes of representation and self-expression. Within this general perspective the module offers an opportunity to study how poetry reacts to the visual arts, specifically painting (with room to include some examples of photography), and how the visual arts react to specific instances of language, specifically poetry. |
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Module Aims |
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To develop and implement methods of analysis and interpretation that treat relations between the verbal and the visual arts (when each performs under the influence of the sister art) in terms of goals, techniques and cultural significance. (i) Examples of the verbal arts will be drawn exclusively from poetry (although the inferences of analysis and interpretation extend to all language use) and examples of the visual arts will be drawn primarily from painting (and secondarily from photography). (ii) A general introduction to ‘reading’ visual images; (iii) Brief case studies of representative poems written in response to specific paintings, and specific painters whose creativity is influenced by specific examples of poetry. (iv) Digital images of the relevant paintings will be studied. |
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Primary Texts (items 1-4 for purchase; item 5 selections will be circulated by lecturer] | ||
| 1. Benton, Michael & Peter | Painting with Words (Hodder Arnold, 1995) ISBN: 0340618736 | |
| 2. Ashbery, John | Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (Penguin, 1992) ISBN: 0140586687 | Parmigianino: Link 1 |
| Parmigianino: Link 2 | ||
| 3. Dabydeen, David | Turner (Peepal Tree Press, 2002) ISBN: 1900715686 | Turner |
| 4. Williams, William Carlos | Pictures from Brueghel & Other Poems (New Directions, 1967) ISBN: 0811202348 | Brueghel: Link 1 |
| Brueghel: Link 2 | ||
| VOLUME OF POEMS INFLUENCED BY PHOTOGRAPHY (out of print: digitized selections will be circulated by lecturer) | ||
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Pat Adams (ed.) |
With a poet's eye : a Tate Gallery anthology PN6110 Art.W RBR | |
| Gunn, Tom & Ander | Positives (Faber, 1973) ISBN: 057110391X RBR copy PR6013 G976P | |
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Recommended Reading (RBR) | |
| 1. Acton, Mary | Learning to Look at Pictures (Routledge, 1997) [PN56 Ekp.He 2004] [RBR] |
| 2. Heffernan, James A.W. | Museum of Words: The Poetics of Ekphrasis from Homer to Ashbery Univ. of Chicago Press, 1993) [RBR] |
| 3. Hollander, John | The Gazer's Spirit: Poems Speaking to Silent Works of Art (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1995) [RBR] |
| 4. Gunn, Tom & Ander | Positives (Faber, 1973) [PR6013 G976P] [RBR] |
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Assignments & Continuous assessment |
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ASSESSMENT 1 independently-researched project on a
poet-painter pair outside the syllabus
30% Each project should focus on
either (a) a specific poet influenced
by a specific painter or school of painting, or (b) a specific poet influenced
by other visual media The project is meant to give
students an opportunity to explore issues beyond the syllabus. Length: Maximum 2-2,500 words.
Due: Week 12. |
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Lecture Schedule |
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Week |
Date |
Text/Author/Topic |
Tutorial & Presentation Topics |
Presentation by: |
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1 |
Looking at images: Reading images | |||
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2 |
Reading images based on poems: The Benton anthology | |||
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3 |
Reading poems based on images: The Benton anthology | 1. (Benton) | ||
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4 |
Williams | 2. (Benton) | ||
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5 |
Williams | 3. (Williams) | ||
| RECESS WEEK: | ||||
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6 |
Dabydeen | 4. (Williams) | ||
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7 |
Dabydeen | 5. (Dabydeen) | ||
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8 |
Mid-term class test: 60 mins (20% CA) | 6. (Dabydeen) | ||
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9 |
Gunn | 7. (Gunn) | ||
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10 |
Gunn | 8. (Gunn) | ||
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11 |
Ashbery | 9. (Ashbery) | ||
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12 |
Ashbery | 10. (Ashbery) | ||
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12 |
Submission of essay, in class (30% CA). | |||
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13 |
Review, revision | |||
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LECTURE NOTES |
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Links to each lecture topic will be provided by the start of the semester Topic 2: Reading Ekphrastic Poems Topic 2b: Image-Poem Pairs (Benton book) Additional Image-Poem Pairs (Benton book) Topic 3: Williams SAMPLE CLASS TEST Topic 4: Dabydeen Topic 5: Gunn Topic 6: Ashbery Review and Revision
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NOTE CONCERNING THE USE OF IMAGES FOR THIS MODULE |
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A module such as EN3246 profits from the ready use of electronic images. However, students must bear two things in mind: 1. Intellectual rights have to be respected: i.e. never use an image in your writing without proper acknowledge of sources. 2. Restricted image use: images used for this module are for purely academic purposes, within the confines of the NUS. Do not use images from this module for any purpose outside module requirements.
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Suggestions for Presentations and Projects |
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[A few examples of poets influenced by specific painters, movements in painting: ideal for Projects. Of course, students can access periods prior to the twentieth century, and cultures other than that of the West for their projects,] Sujata Bhatt, A Colour for Solitude (Carcanet, 2002): Grace Nichols, Paint Me a Poem: New Poems Inspired by Art in the Tate (A & C Black Childrens Books, 2004): The Tate Wallace Stevens, "The Man with the Blue Guitar", Collected Poems (Knopf, 1956): Cubism The poems of Charles Tomlinson, Anthony Hecht, Derek Walcott, etc.
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Supplementary Reading |
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NOTE: The following is meant to give an idea of what is
available in the library.
Students should be selective in deciding what they are likely to
find useful.
General
Andrews, Malcolm.
Landscape and western art. Oxford;
New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. N8213 And
Caws, Mary Ann. The
art of interference: stressed readings in verbal and visual texts.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1989. PN53 Caw
Krieger, Murray.
Ekphrasis: the illusion of the natural sign.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. PN1126 Kri
Kronegger, Marlies. Ed.
The orchestration of the arts: a creative symbiosis of
existential powers: the vibrating interplay of sound, color, image,
gesture, movement, rhythm, fragrance, word, touch.
Dordrecht; Boston, Mass.: Kluwer Academic, 2000. B3279 Hus*Ah 63
Robillard, Valerie & Els
Jongeneel. Ed. Pictures into words: theoretical and
descriptive approaches to ekphrasis.
Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1998. PN56 Ekp.Pi
Thomas, Julia. Ed.
Reading images. New York: St.
Martin's Press, 2000. B105 Ima.R
Wagner, Peter. Ed.
Icons, texts, iconotexts : essays on ekphrasis and intermediality.
Berlin; New York: W. de Gruyter, 1996. PN56 Ekp 1
3. John Ashbery,
Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
(1992).
PS3501 A819S
Altieri, Charles. Self and
sensibility in contemporary American poetry.
Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984. PS325 Alt
Ashbery, John.
Reported sightings : art chronicles, 1957-1987.
Manchester: Carcanet, 1989. NX640 Ash
Herd, David. John Ashbery
and American poetry. New York:
Palgrave, 2000. PS3501 A819*He 2000
Lehman, David.
Ed. Beyond amazement: new essays on John Ashbery,
N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1980. PS3501 A819*B
Mills-Courts, Karen. Poetry
as epitaph: representation and poetic language.
Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990. PR508 Epi.Mi
Nason, Richard W. Boiled
grass and the broth of shoes: reconstructing literary deconstruction.
Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1991. PN98 Dec.Na
Shapiro, David. John Ashbery,
an introduction to the poetry. New
York: Columbia University Press, 1979. PS3501 A819*S
Shoptaw, John. On the
outside looking out: John Ashbery's poetry.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1994. PS3501 A819*Sh
Ward, Geoff. Statutes of
liberty: the New York school of poets.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. PS255 New.Wa
Watkin, William. In the
process of poetry: the New York school and the avant-garde.
Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press ; London ; Cranbury, NJ :
Associated University Presses, 2001. PS255 New.W
4. David Dabydeen,
Turner ( 2002).
PR9900 Guy.Da 1994
Döring, Tobias.
Caribbean-English passages: intertexuality in a postcolonial
tradition. New York: Routledge,
2002. PR9900 Wes*D 2002
5. W. C. Williams,
Pictures from Breughel & Other Poems
(1967).
RBR PS3545 W728Pi
Diggory, Terence.
William Carlos Williams and the ethics of painting.
Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press, 1991. PS3545 W728*Di
Halter, Peter. The revolution in the visual arts and the
poetry of William Carlos Williams.
Cambridge University Press, 1994. PS3545 W728*H
MacGowan,
Christopher J. William Carlos Williams's early poetry: the
visual arts background. Ann Arbor,
Mich.: UMI Research Press, 1984. PN94 Sml
Sayre,
Henry M. The visual text of William Carlos Williams.
Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983. PS3545 W728*Sa
Schmidt, Peter.
William Carlos Williams, the arts, and literary tradition.
Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988. PS3545 W728*Sc
6. Gunn, Tom
& Ander. Positives
(1973).
RBR PR6013 G976P
Campany, David.
Ed. Art and photography.
London; New York : Phaidon, 2003. TR655 Art 2003
Cotton, Charlotte. The
photograph as contemporary art.
London: Thames & Hudson, 2004. TR642 Cot 2004
Dodsworth, Martin. 'Thom Gunn:
Positives and Negatives', The Review,
18, April 1968.
Howells, Richard. Visual
culture. Malden, MA: Blackwell
Publishers, 2003. LB1068 How 2003
Shukla, Ananta. Ed. Art and
representation: contributions to contemporary aesthetics.
Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2001. BH301 Rep.Art
Wells, Liz. Ed. The
photography reader. London:
Routledge, 2003. TR146 Pho 2003
Szto et al.
'Poetry and Photography: An Exploration into Expressive/Creative
Qualitative Research'. Qualitative Social Work
2005; 4: 135-156.
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LINKS |
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The Poet Speaks of Art: Harry Rusche (Emory University) Painting with Words: An Anthology of Ekphrastic Literature: Damian G. Rollison (Univ. of Virginia) (This site does not any longer have all its former images, so use it selectively) Steve Durbin on art and perception University of Dundee Philosophy module on the aesthetics of the sublime
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Sample list of Ekphrastic poems |
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from John Hollander, The Gazer's Spirit: Poems Speaking to Silent Works of Art (1995)
Allen Tate,
"Sonnet"/William Lescaze, Portrait of Hart Crane
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Last Updated June 22, 2011 |