Poetry and Poetics

[Dr. Old Bill]

Hi folks,

 

Apologies in advance for being new around these parts and starting a couple of threads already, but having gone through a bunch of pages on this site, I haven't found anything similar, sooo...

 

I've done a lot of research on grad schools, but I haven't found many places that specialize in poetry and poetics. My specialization interest is in formal poetry, if at all possible, and sonnets in particular. A lot of the poetics departments I've come across are either quite small, or are predominantly free verse based.

 

I have a couple of other specialization possibilities, and will likely send applications to places that have a strong late-19th - mid-20th century lit programs, but if anyone knows of some good formal poetry programs (or ballpark), I'd love to know. My WS will likely be a 15-page analysis of three of Shakespeare's "misfit" sonnets (99, 126, 145).

 

 

[queennight]

This most definitely doesn't answer your question but I'll chime in too - I'm interested in combining lit theory with poetics, and would also love to hear suggestions of strong programs in the department of poetry! I've been looking around and most departments are obviously organized by time-period-genre rather than subject type (with the exception of the 'development of the novel' area). Any suggestions would be great! Right now I think I'll be applying to programs that are strong in postmodern lit theory, but if anybody knows of combination schools, I'd be thrilled to hear.

[Dr. Old Bill]

Queennight -- it may not answer my question per se, but it's good to see someone else in the same boat! I suspect / worry that what I (and perhaps you) am looking for is found more along the MFA path, but I'm hoping those worries are unfounded.

 

I should also mention that I'm always mildly annoyed about the separation of time periods into American and British lit. I love early-to-mid 20th century from both sides of the Atlantic about equally. I wish I didn't have to forgo deeper study about one for the sake of the other (i.e. Auden is my favorite poet, but E. A. Robinson is right up there too).

Edited June 5, 2014 by Wyatt's Torch

[queennight]

Absolutely understand the concern - I'm interested in seemingly bridging a couple different areas with a Ph.D., and I'm worried how to approach this in my application. But yes - any suggestions for schools strong in poetics would be super helpful.

 

And agreed SO MUCH about the American/British divide; it's a similar connundrum with how Yeats always gets smashed into either the modernists or the Victorians based on which area you're studying. Drives me nuts!

[poliscar]

Princeton would be worth looking at—Meredith Martin would definitely fit your interests, as would Susan Stewart. Johns Hopkins could also be a good bet, between Sharon Cameron and Christopher Nealon. They're also in the process of hiring two new tenured faculty members, and they've advertised that search as trans-Atlantic, long 19th century, so it's definitely a department where there isn't such an explicit American/British split. 

 

Berkeley has some great poetics scholars in your area, like Anne-Lise Francois and Charles Altieri; Jennifer Scappettone at Chicago might be promising; and Cornell has Jonathan Culler, who doesn't really need an introduction. 

I would say though—if you plan on working on the late 19th/early 20th century, I don't know if submitting a writing sample on Shakespeare is the best idea. Though you could argue that you want to study the sonnet trans-historically, that's still a huge span of almost four centuries. 

 

[Dr. Old Bill]

Ah, thanks for that Poliscar! I'm actually somewhat undecided in terms of time period. Or rather, I'd love to be able to transcend time period and look at the sonnet trans-historically, as you mention. But that might be a bit too specific and incongruous from an application standpoint. I'll be doing an independent study this fall on the subject of contextualizing Edwin Arlington Robinson, and it will produce a 20-page essay that I will probably wind up using for some applications (with the Shakespeare Sonnets paper used for others). If there's a possibility that I can find a few programs that don't care about time periods so much as the content I plan to study, that's ideal, but I suspect I'll be applying to programs that are either based on a certain period of poetry or a certain period / location of literature.

[poliscar]

What I'd say is that there are definitely programs where you would be able to do transhistorical research, but the caveat is that they'll still expect some sort of historical grounding for various reasons, i.e. qualifying exams & professionalization. In that case, an application that grounds you in the context of the late 19th/early 20th century (or another period, of course), but that also expresses your interest in a sort of longue-durée history of poetics is probably your best bet. It's definitely also a good idea to email potential advisors—even if they don't end up being good fits, they may be able to point you onward to other scholars? 

As a side note, I had forgotten, but Northwestern has a specific qualifying exam specialization in Poetry and Poetics. You can see it here if you're interested: http://www.english.northwestern.edu/graduate/grad%20documents/QE1%20Reading%20Lists.pdf . In general Northwestern is a good school for poetics; it may lean more towards free-verse, but in that case I am not sure if you can have scholarship on free-verse without the tension between it and formal poetry. The same goes for UPenn—someone like Perelman is going to be (obviously) associated with Language, but is also going to be very well versed in historical poetics. 

[Dr. Old Bill]

Thanks, Davidipse. My best undergrad professor thus far (who will also be writing me a LOR) was a former student of Vendler's at Harvard. It's tempting. It really is. In fact, my Shakespeare Sonnets CWS cites Vendler's The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets. I just don't know if I can make a strong enough all-around application for Harvard. My GRE verbal is 162, with my analytical writing a paltry 4.5. And they require the subject test, which I'm frankly not sure I'll do well on at this juncture. I know a lot of folks say the GRE isn't overly important, but I suspect that for the cream of the crop schools, it matters that much more. I can make a compelling SOP and have a compelling CWS, and my 3.93 GPA is probably good enough...but it's hard to say if the other elements are up to snuff. But it's probably worth a shot. My wife dislikes Boston as a city (and I'm not a fan myself), but I suspect that if I got admitted to Harvard, we'd figure something out...

 

UVA and Brown are also strong possibilities for me as well. I was hoping to avoid taking the subject test, as most of the places on my short-list don't require it, but I suspect there's no way around it if I want a good school for poetry.

 

Thanks again to all of you for your input. It's a lot to think about.

[davidipse]

Spam

Edited June 6, 2014 by davidipse

[davidipse]

Sorry for the spam. Using phone. Anyway:

Your scores are in the ballpark. I had 4.0 writing score and got into multiple top 10s. Where are you doing your undergrad? You can pm me this if you don't want to disclose here 8@

Edited June 6, 2014 by davidipse

[Dr. Old Bill]

No worries -- PM sent.