Painting with Words: Exploring Poetry and Image

Spring 2013

"To a masterpiece in story there appertains a beauty of shape, no less than to a masterpiece in pictorial
or plastic art, capable of giving the trained mind an equal pleasure."
--Thomas Hardy
Ut pictura poesis--as in painting so is poetry
--Horace


Vaughn Anderson
vaughn.b.anderson@gmail.com

Comparative Literature
195:384:01
Monday/Wednesday 2:15pm-3:35pm
Tillett Hall 204 (Mon), Tillett Hall 125 (Wed), Livingston Campus.

Office hours and location: Tuesday 11am-12pm, or by appointment. The Scarlet Latte,
Alexander Library
Mailbox: 195 College Avenue


Introduction:

What is the difference between a pen and a paintbrush? Can a poem be a painting?
What is poetic about a photograph? Throughout the 20th century, these questions became
especially urgent for writers and artists living in an age when world wars, mass communication
and general relativity seemed to threaten the very ideas of time and space.
In this course we will read poetry that interprets, imitates, or even becomes visual art.
Starting with the Romantic period, we will trace changing ideas of poetry's relationship to image
through the digital age. While this class is meant as a survey of the importance of visual art for
poetry during the 20th Century, it will focus specifically on two main questions: the relationship
between time and space in poetry; and the similarities and differences in the ways that image
and text create meaning.
To ground our discussions, we will sample some of the most important theoretical texts
on image's relationship to the word. The main focus of the class, however, will be on developing
skills in close reading. Background knowledge in Art History is welcomed but not necessary.





Evaluation

Attendance 10%
Participation: 10%
Written Responses: 30%
Two 7-9 Page Papers: 50%

Total: 100%

Grading Rubric:
A (90-100), B+ (87-89), B (80-86), C+ (75-79), C (70-74) , D (60-69), F (59-0)
Papers for this course will be assessed according to the rubric used in Rutgers Expository
Writing, which will be posted to Sakai. Final grades are non-negotiable unless you can prove
that I have made a mathematical error in calculating the grade.

This course fulfills the following requirements:

1. SAS Liberal Arts Distribution Requirements
This course fulfills the Humanities requirement.
2. New Core Curriculum Learning Goals
This course will meet the following goals:
C: Arts and the Humanities (3 credits)
p. Analyze arts and/or literatures in themselves and in relation to specific histories,
values, languages, cultures, and technologies.
3. Comparative Literature Learning Goals
1. Students will demonstrate familiarity with a variety of world literatures as well as
methods of studying literature and culture across national and linguistic boundaries and
evaluate the nature, function and value of literature from a global perspective.
2. They will demonstrate critical reasoning and research skills; design and conduct
research in an individual field of concentration (such as literary theory, women's literature, post
colonial studies, literature and film, etc); analyze a specific body of research and write a clear
and well developed paper or project about a topic related to more than one literary and cultural
tradition.

Requirements, Rules, Regulations
1. Attendance will be taken at each class meeting.
A. Excused absences. Religiously observant students should indicate that they
wish to be excused on religious holidays, and these absences will be considered
excused absences, following university regulations. Athletes needing to attend
practice at certain times should inform me in advance of their situation;
absences to attend practice will be considered excused absences. Other
excused absences are family emergencies, transportation emergencies,
scheduled job interviews, health emergencies, and scheduled visits to doctors.
Students who find themselves needing to be excused for a long period for
medical or other reasons should contact their college dean and have the dean
notify all of their professors about the need for a long absence from class.
B. Unexcused absences. Excessive absences will hurt your grade. Each student
is allowed two unexcused absences for the semester, after which your grade will
begin to drop. if you expect to miss one or two classes, please use the
University absence reporting website: https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/ to indicate
the date and reason for your absence. An email is automatically sent to me.
NOTE THAT THIS DOES NOT EXCUSE THE ABSENCE. More than six
unexcused absences will guarantee an F for the class.
2. Tardiness. Be in class on time. If you arrive late to class you will lose participation
points for the day. If you arrive more than 15 minutes late you will be counted absent.
3. Participation. Participation in class discussions is a very important part of this class
and will be part of your grade. Daily participation will be out of a possible 5 points. You
must BRING READINGS TO CLASS, or forfeit one participation point.
4. Course etiquette. Please feel free to ask as many questions during class discussion as
you want. Remember that you are here to learn, and dont feel embarrassed about
anything you might not know or understand. No electronic cell phones or ipods, etc.
may be used during class. LAPTOPS MUST BE USED FOR CLASSWORK ONLY.
5. Written responses. Throughout the semester students will write six two-three page
response papers. Response papers should attempt to address one of our discussion
questions, and should include a clear and argumentative thesis statement. They should
be typed up ahead of time and brought to class. You can refer to them during class
discussion, or I may call on you to share your response with the rest of the class. The
questions will be collected at the end of the period. Failure to hand in your response will
hurt your participation grade.
6. Two 7-9 page papers, due on March 13 and May 3. Papers should be based on the
class readings but may incorporate ideas, properly attributed, from class discussions.
Internet materials and other outside sources may not be used, nor should students work
together with other students on preparing their papers. Papers should include an
introductory paragraph that clearly states a thesis. Evidence proving that thesis should
follow in the body of the paper, and there should be a concluding paragraph that
summarizes (briefly) the argument and/or relates the issue to other texts read in the
course. Topics will be given out about two weeks before the papers are due to guide
you in the writing of the short papers. You will be allowed to rewrite the first short paper.
7. Late papers. I will at times allow students an extra day to work on finishing a late
paper, but only if you have an acceptable reason for turning the essay in late and only
if you ask me for an extension before the paper is due. Many students who get their
essays in on time consider it unfair for a teacher to allow other students extra time;
therefore, unexcused late papers will go down one letter grade for every day that
they are late.

*Note: all written work done outside of class should be typed in 12-point Times New Roman or
equivalent, with margins of 1 inch on all sides. Double space your paper and do not justify the
margins. When writing more than one page, include page numbers and staple the pages
together. Proofread all papers to catch grammatical errors, spelling errors, and typos. Papers
should follow the MLA format, which can be found at these websites:
www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities/manuscript.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/


Policy on plagiarism
Plagiarism is any form of unauthorized use of another persons ideas without acknowledging the
source in due manner. It includes quoting, paraphrasing, and imitating without referring to the
original source, any act of copy-and-paste without quotation marks and reference, or
downloading another persons work and submitting it as your own. To avoid plagiarism, it is your
responsibility to check out the specific details regarding what constitutes plagiarism and how not
to do it. Students who violate the University Academic Integrity Policy by committing plagiarism
will fail the course and face the University disciplinary action. Please familiarize yourself with the
contents of these webpages:

- For information on Rutgers policy on academic integrity, see the document below:
http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/files/documents/AI_Policy_9_01_2011.pdf

- Take a tutorial on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity (Camden Plagiarism Tutorial):
http://library.camden.rutgers.edu/EducationalModule/Plagiarism/

- Visit Rutgers Writing Programs guideline against plagiarism:
http://wp.rutgers.edu/courses/plagiarism

- Tips on how to take notes so that you dont plagiarize by accident:
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/lib_instruct/instruct_document.shtml


Reading Schedule:

Ekphrasis: Close Reading Text and Image
How do writing and image portray reality differently?
What do we mean when we say that a picture worth 1,000 words?

Theoretical Reading: Excerpts from Renssalaer Lee, Ut Pictura Poesis

Mon Jan 28 Anne Sexton, "The Starry Night;" William Carlos Williams, "The Great
Figure;" Ellen Bryant Voigt, "Wormwood: The Penitents;"
Wed Jan 30 John Ashberry and William Carlos Williams on Breugel's "Icarus;" Allen Ginsberg,
"Cezanne's Ports;" Octavio Paz, "Four Black Poplars"



Ekphrasis Continued: Romanticism
Can writing ever coincide with image? How or how not?
How can we use the language of image to talk about writing? Vice Versa?

Theoretical Reading: Excerpts from Gotthold Lessing, Laokon

Mon Feb 4 William Blake, excerpts from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience
Wed Feb 6 John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn;" Percy Bysshe Shelley, "On the Medusa of
Leonardo da Vinci in the Florentine Gallery," "Ozymandias;" excerpts from
Lord Byron, Goethe, Dante Gabriel Rosetti; Elizabeth Barrett Browning on
Hiram Powers


Symbolism in Poetry and the Arts
What do we mean by "poetics? Can there be a "poetics" of image?
How does symbol work differently in text and image?

Theoretical Reading: Excerpts from Jean Moras, "Symbolist Manifesto"

Mon Feb 11 Charles Baudelaire, "Correspondences," excerpts from Les Fluers du mal;
Mallarm, "L'Apres-midi d'un faune" (illustrated by Eduard Manet and Henri
Matisse)
Wed Feb 13 Poetry and criticism: Baudelaire as art critic, "The Beacons," excerpts from
"Salon de 1846;" Mallarm, posie critique


Making it New: Modernism
What is utopian in the relationship between image and text?
What could we mean by "cubist" painting?

Theoretical Reading: Wellek, "Parallelism between the Literature and the Arts."
Stein, from Composition as Explanation

Mon Feb 18 William Carlos Williams at the museum: assorted poems by Williams
Wed Feb 20 Cubism: Gertrude Stein, poetic portraits of Matisse, Picasso, "Tender
Buttons;" Wallace Stephens, "The Man with the Blue Guitar," Apollinaire,
"Meditations esthetiques: les peintres cubistes"



Avant-Garde: Surrealism
Can image and text ever serve the same purpose?
How do image and text evoke or express our interior selves and states?

Theoretical Reading: Excerpts from Andr Breton, "The Surrealist Manifesto"
"L'Union Libre" London Bulletin 1938

Mon Feb 25 In-class activity; Excerpts from the Count of Lautreamont, Les Chants de
Maldoror (Illustrated by Salvador Dal)
Wed Feb 27 Later Surrealism: Poems by Octavio Paz dedicated to Remedios Varo, Joan
Mir, Roberto Matta and Leonora Carrington; poems by Cesar Moro; Sylvia
Plath, "The Disquieting Muses" (to Giorgio de Chirico)


Polyartistry: Painters who Poetize
Is the poetry of these artists somehow "painterly"?
How can we relate these artists' painting and poetry?

Theoretical Reading: Gombrich, from Art and Illusion

Mon Mar 4 Wassily Kandinsky, "Sounds;" Miro
Wed Mar 6 (In-Class Workshop) Paul Klee Hans; Arp


Polyartistry: Poets who Paint
Is the painting of these men somehow "poetic?"
Can we find parallel or divergent styles in their painting and poetry?

Mon Mar 11 Selections from e.e. cummings' painting and poetry
Wed Mar 13 Selections from Rabindranath Tagore and Federico Garcia Lorca

First 7-9 Page Paper Due


Spring Break: Sat Mar 16-Sun Mar 24


Publication and Materiality
How can we think of the format of publication as visual art?
How do magazines attempt to establish relationships between image and text?

Theoretical Reading: W.J.T. Mitchell, from Picture Theory

Mon Mar 25 Readings from the Modernist Journals project
Wed Mar 27 Book Objects: Octavio Paz, "Topoemas," "Blanco;"


Abstraction: The New York School of Painters and Poets
What do we mean by "abstract" art?
If abstract painting attempts to escape all symbols and representation, how can
poetry relate to it?

Theoretical Reading: Harold Rosenberg on Abstract Expressionism

Mon Apr 1 Selected poems by John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Frank O'Hara and Nancy
Sullivan
Wed Apr 3 Selected poems by Octavio Paz, Severo Sarduy, Lawrence Ferlinghetti


Visual Poetry
Can a poem be a painting? How or how not?
What do we mean by "concrete?"

Theoretical Reading: De Campos, "Pilot Plan for Concrete Poetry"

Mon Apr 8 Concrete Poetry: Selections from Dylan Thomas, Guillaume Apollinaire, Haroldo
and Augusto de Campos, Eugen Gommringer, and Octavio Paz
Wed Apr 10 Digital Poetry: Selections from "Heavy Industries"


Photography and Cinema
What is meant by "high" and "low" culture?
How do we force different media into these categories?

Theoretical Reading: from Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida

Mon Apr 15 Poetry and Photography:
Wed Apr 17 Poetry and Cinema: John Berryman, "Homage to Film;" Hart Crane,
"Chaplinesque;" John Ashbery, "They Knew What They Wanted;" Selections
from the Poetry Foundation's "Poetry Everywhere"


Graphic Novels / Graphic Poetry

Theoretical Reading: McHale

Mon Apr 22 From the Poetry Foundation Series: Heatley and Wakoski, "Bellydancer;"
Gabrielle Bell and Emily Dickinson; Jeffrey Brown and Russell Edson; Ron Reg
and Kenneth Patchen
Wed Apr 24 Howl (Poem, Graphic Novel and Movie clip); Bianca Stone, I Want to Open the
Mouth God Gave You Beautiful Mutant; Interview with Stone in The Comics
Journal

Illustrated Poetry / Children's poetry

Mon Apr 29 Edward Gorey, Amphigorey
Wed May 1 Shel Silverstein, Where the sidewalk Ends; selections from Dr. Seuss



Optional Readings:
Abse, Dannie and Joan. Voices in the Gallery: Poems and Pictures. London: The Tate
Gallery, 1986.
Altick, Richard D. Paintings from Books: Art and Literature in Britain, 1760-1900.
Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1985.
Frye, Roland M. Milton's Imagery and the Visual Arts: Icongraphic Tradition in the
Epic Poems. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1978.
McClatchy, J. D., editor. Poets on Painters: Essays on the Art of Painting by
Twentieth-Century Poets. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
Meisel, Martin. Realizations: Narrative, Pictorial, and Theatrical Arts in Nineteenth-
Century England. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983.
Oakley, Lucy. Unfaded Pageant: Edwin Austin Abbey's Shakespearean Subjects. New
York: Columbia University, 1994.