Helpful Links
To learn how to comment on and revise poems and to see some examples of student work together with comments and suggested revisions I have made, click on:
or go to
and if that isn't enough
which must be done "line by line!"
and with that there are
Every poet, indeed every writer, owes something to his or her literary history. You should use your time as a student to become familiar with forms of poetry and the great variety of styles now employed. It is my belief that a good critic has at least tried to do what the poet does. After all, how else can the true degree of difficulty be judged without trying to "play the game?"
You're assignment is to produce at least ten new poems in the following categories:
2 to 4 poems in the most popular contemporary style: imagistic poetry. (For a definition of "imagistic" poetry: http://www.answers.com/imagistic&r=67 )
2 to 4 poems in "imitation" of a contemporary author whose work you
have studied this term. (For a good sample of contemporary poetry try any living
poet laureate at http://www.loc.gov/poetry/laureate.html
though honestly, why not read a lot of my poems 
?
2 to 4 poems in a style "of your own."
2 to 4 poems in set form which must include:
one (1) sonnet (using meter of iambic pentameter correctly)
and three (3) Haiku or Tanka.
Together that is a total of at least TEN PAGES of your own poems.
In addition, you are required to:
A. Send two (2) of your poems to all of your fellow students for a critique.
B. Critique and assist in the revision of two poems by each of two students (a total of four poems must be critqued). To do so select 2 poems from each of two other of your fellow workshop students and then go into detail critiquing the poems they wrote. Send each of the two students your comments.
Don't forget, as well, that you can earn extra credit if you attend and report on more than the one required "literary event" during your course. What better way to fulfill your requirement than to go to one of the many nearby poetry readings?