THE NEW AMERICAN POETRY

Instructor: Matthew Zapruder

email: mzapruder@wavepoetry.com
office hours: Tuesday 1-3pm or by appointment, Dante 320

Course Description

In 1960, Donald Allen and Grove Press published The New American Poetry 1945-1960. This
controversial anthology included a great number poets of future influence, and sorted them into
categories (Black Mountain, Beats, San Francisco Renaissance, New York School) familiar to us
to this day. Reading the anthology now, we can see how our understanding of what is "new" in
American poetry has been profoundly influenced by this single selection of poems.

In this course we will read the anthology, as well as full books by some of the poets along with
supplementary material, in order to think broadly and deeply about the "new" in American poetry,
and how these ideas about the “new” have for the past 50 years influenced our understanding and
practice of poetry. In the last part of the course students will choose and present work they feel
has determined, or will or should determine, what we think of as the new American poetry of the
21st century: what has mattered, what seems to matter now, and what will matter to poets and
readers in the future.

Students in this course will:

• develop a thorough understanding of mid-century "new" American poetry;

• explore, through reading the anthology The New American Poetry as well as full books of
poetry and other supplemental material, various versions of what has been considered “new” in
American poetry for the past 50 years;
• develop skills of discussing and analyzing contemporary poetry through participation in class
discussions;
• consider and deepen ideas about what is currently "new" in American poetry, and present those
ideas to the class;
• closely read and discuss notable individual poems, in order to think about what we might learn
and make use of in our own poems.

Books to Purchase

The New American Poetry 1945-1969, ed. Donald Allen (the most recent 1999 edition)
Allen Ginsberg, Howl and Other Poems
James Schuyler, Selected Poems
Frank O’Hara, Lunch Poems
John Ashbery, Selected Poems

Schedule

2.12 - Introduction to The New American Poetry and the poetry of 1960 (“Projective Verse” and
“A Wrong Turning in American Poetry”)

2.19 – Robert Creeley

2.26 – Barbara Guest

3.5 – Allen Ginsberg and Manifesto of Surrealism (1924)

3.12 – Jack Spicer, Freud, “Creative Writers and Daydreaming,” and Jung, “On the Relation of
Analytical Psychology to Poetry”

3.19 – John Wieners

3.26 – Break

4.2 – Frank O’Hara + “Personism: A Manifesto” + Coleridge, Conversation Poems

4.9 – John Ashbery

4.16 – James Schuyler

4.23 – No Class: rescheduled for 5.21

4.30 – Leroi Jones/Amiri Baraka + Denise Levertov

5.7 – Coconut Magazine + A Public Space and Editor Brett Lauer Class Visit

5.14 – Omissions + Heirs

5.21 – Tour of City Lights Bookstore (3pm)

Grades

All grades for Saint Mary’s MFA Creative Writing students are Pass / Fail unless a student
requests otherwise. The student who misses four or more class sessions for whatever reason will
likely not receive credit. (Arriving more than 10 minutes late to class, disappearing for extended
periods during class, or leaving more than 10 minutes early translates into an absence.) Also in
jeopardy of failing the course is the student who fails to participate in the discussions on a weekly
basis. If there any emergencies or special circumstances please let me know before you miss
class, or as soon as possible afterward. Also, you are responsible for keeping up with the reading
and any other assignments, so if you are unable to attend class please contact me or another
student as soon as possible to find out what you have missed.

Special Considerations

Student Disability Services extends reasonable and appropriate accommodations that take into
account the context of the course and its essential elements, for individuals with qualifying
disabilities. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact the Student Disability Services
Coordinator at (925) 631-4164 to set up a confidential appointment to discuss accommodation
guidelines and available services. Additional information regarding the services available may be
found on the Saint May’s website. If you have any concerns that require special consideration
such as physical disabilities, please see me as soon as possible so we can make the appropriate
arrangements.