Buffalo poetics?

[Indecisive Poet]

Would love information on this program if anyone knows anything about it/is attending.

My central interest is poetics and I'm looking for programs that are strong in this area, but I'm also a Romanticist. It seems like Buffalo's program is geared toward modern/contemporary avant-garde poetics. This is still of great interest to me – I hope to move away from Romanticism a little bit in the future and work on more modern/contemporary stuff – but I do plan to apply as a Romanticist, and I'm wondering if it wouldn't make sense for me to apply to this program.

If not the poetics program, I would still be interested in Buffalo's general PhD because the department in general is so strong in poetics (if not in Romanticism), but would they find it strange for someone interested in poetics to not apply to to the poetics program? 

Edited June 15, 2019 by Indecisive Poet

[LordQuas]

Hey, I'm probably applying to UB for the poetics program. Maybe psychoanalytical program, but most likely poetics. I'm in the same boat because though I'm most experienced in poetry, the avant-garde stuff doesn't really float my boat. I really don't think it will work against you. I've spoken to a student who currently goes there and though we didn't directly speak about her academic interests, she implied that before entering she wasn't really into the avant-garde stuff either. 

 

I know hgtvdeathdrive is attending in the fall. Maybe they could speak to this better than I can.

[brontebitch]

I will be starting at UB in the fall, and while I'm not in poetics, I would be happy to chat about why I chose the program and what I liked about the visit event. 

I think I faced a similar problem as I articulated my interest in poetics (Victorian and Modernist) in my SOP but was not gearing my app towards the poetics program. The general English PhD and the Poetics department are clearly extremely connected though, from what I could tell. 

I applied to UB as a Victorianist but was interested in Buffalo particularly because I want to branch out into Modernist poetics (and hopefully connect the two). From what they told me, this made me a very interesting and exciting candidate, so I think they're very welcome to people who already have an articulated interest that want to branch out into something else! 

EDIT: I also want to say that many in the Poetics department are also creative writers with MFA degrees, which I am not, so that was one of my reasons for not explicitly articulating interest in participating in the Poetics program. Obviously those students are still interested in and complete critical work, but it seemed like there MIGHT be an expectation for those in Poetics to be in those workshops??? I'm really not sure -- someone else could probably speak more to this, but that was my impression, and maybe something to consider.

Edited June 16, 2019 by brontebitch

[Indecisive Poet]

On 6/16/2019 at 6:45 PM, brontebitch said:

I will be starting at UB in the fall, and while I'm not in poetics, I would be happy to chat about why I chose the program and what I liked about the visit event. 

I think I faced a similar problem as I articulated my interest in poetics (Victorian and Modernist) in my SOP but was not gearing my app towards the poetics program. The general English PhD and the Poetics department are clearly extremely connected though, from what I could tell. 

I applied to UB as a Victorianist but was interested in Buffalo particularly because I want to branch out into Modernist poetics (and hopefully connect the two). From what they told me, this made me a very interesting and exciting candidate, so I think they're very welcome to people who already have an articulated interest that want to branch out into something else! 

EDIT: I also want to say that many in the Poetics department are also creative writers with MFA degrees, which I am not, so that was one of my reasons for not explicitly articulating interest in participating in the Poetics program. Obviously those students are still interested in and complete critical work, but it seemed like there MIGHT be an expectation for those in Poetics to be in those workshops??? I'm really not sure -- someone else could probably speak more to this, but that was my impression, and maybe something to consider.

This is really helpful! Since reading this and looking some more through the curriculum, I've been thinking that maybe the Poetics program isn't a great fit for me right now but the general PhD might be. I could see myself writing a similar sort of statement for this program.

Do you know if you're able to take any of the classes on offer in the poetics program? Or, for example, I see that there's a class in Poetics listed in the general graduate courses document for Fall 2019. Would you be able to take something like that as a general English student?

I'm not sure if this is something you can speak to, but my only (but major) concern with applying to this program is that Buffalo seems to have only one Romanticist on its faculty (Susan Eilenberg) and she hasn't published anything since 2004 (!!!) which is a huge red flag. I do want to branch out to 20th/21st century poetry/poetics, but if I'm applying as an established Romanticist who does want to continue that interest in some way, I'm not sure the program makes sense for me. Do you know anything I don't here!? ?