EN2F2-30 Ecopoetics

Department: English and Comparative Literary Studies
Credit value: 30
Assessment: 100% coursework
Study location: University of Warwick main campus, Coventry

Introductory description

This module offers an immersive, practical and theoretical orientation to the major "compass points" in ecopoetics: creative and critical engagement of writing with the emerging set of environmental challenges now facing life on earth.

Module web page

Module aims

Students who complete it will gain an introduction to some of the principal issues in and leading theoretical critiques of the environmental crisis, across a range of disciplines; sustained engagement with distinctive, and differing, approaches to contemporary writing in ecopoetics, with a good overview of major currents in contemporary poetry; and an equally sustained immersion in hands-on practices, resulting in a solid body of work, both critical and creative, and a comprehensive set of tools (and compass points) for further development. As the module explores both the creative and the critical dimension in ecopoetics, it supplements both courses in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies, where students may seek an introduction to contemporary poetry and an application of critical theory, and courses in the Writing Program, where students may develop their creative writing with a sustained focus in a supportive and challenging workshop environment. Students in both courses will benefit from the interdisciplinary perspectives of discussions pointing to future configurations of literary arts and studies in relation to the humanities, sciences and social sciences.

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Term 1

Field-based Writing

1 Description
2 Walking
3 Gardens
4 Urban environments
5 Site-specific work

6 Reading Week

7 Pastoral / Wilderness / Third landscapes
8 Labor, food systems, shelter and urban planning
9 Bioregions and biodiversity
10 Global networks: energy, trade, migration

Term 2

11 Sound and soundscapes
12 Concepts and procedures
13 Documents and research
14 Situations
15 Systems and boundaries

16 Reading Week

17 Interstices and hybrids
18 Poetry/ essay workshopping.
19 Poetry/ essay workshopping.
20 Poetry/ essay workshopping.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

- Develop a method for writing in the field, drawing on recent techniques for writing away from the desk, in relation to place and to a current, relevant mode of engaging a major dimensions of the changing environment.
- Summarize the principal environmental “issues” affecting life in the twenty-first century and articulate a significant structural connection between some differently-scaled components of these issues.
- Draw a map of the current field of poetic practice, describing and commenting on particular aspects of recent ecopoetics, and locate student’s own tendencies on this map. Make appropriate use of scholarly reviews and primary sources.
- Understand how ecopoetics refracts through the map of current poetic practice into an array of engagements that put different kinds of pressure on different structural connections in the environment, in ways that are sometimes allied, sometimes in opposition.
- Write in a specific poetic form (mode of engagement) and write about poetic form (mode of engagement) in an extended piece of work or project that takes on and articulates the rationale for this mode of writing.
- Understand and write in relation to the interdisciplinary imperative of ecopoetics, locating and reflecting on how the student’s project relates to specific, disparate audiences, coming from different disciplinary backgrounds.

Indicative reading list

Corey, Joshua and G.C. Waldrep, eds. The Arcadia Project: North American Postmodern Pastoral (Boise, Idaho: Ahsahta Press, 2012)

Fisher-Wirth Ann and Laura Gray-Street. The Ecopoetry Anthology (San Antonio, TX: Trinity UP, 2013)

Guha, Ramachandra. Environmentalism: A Global History (New York: Longman, 2000

Garrard, Greg. Ecocriticism (London: Routledge, 2011)

Tarlo, Harriet. The Ground Aslant: Radical Landscape Poetry (Bristol, UK: Shearsman Books, 2011)

Iijima, Brenda, ed. The Ecolanguage Reader (NY: Portable Press at Yo-yo labs and Nighboat Editions, 2010)

Subject specific skills

Explore writing in the field, accessing a broad range of techniques for writing away from the desk, in relation to place and to various modes of engaging the major dimensions of a changing environment.
Summarize the principal environmental “issues” affecting life in the twenty-first century and articulate some structural connections between differently-scaled components of these issues.
Draw a map of the current field of poetic practice and locate their own tendencies on this map.
Understand how ecopoetics refracts through the map of current poetic practice into an array of engagements that put different kinds of pressure on different structural connections in the environment, and critically evaluate the appropriateness of some of these different modes of engagement.
Write in a variety of poetic forms (modes of engagement) and write about poetic form (mode of engagement) in a way that takes on and articulates the connections between these modes of writing.
Understand and write in relation to the interdisciplinary imperative of ecopoetics, locating and reflecting on how the student’s work relates to different kinds of audiences, coming from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds.

Transferable skills

TBC

Study time

Type	Required
Lectures	18 sessions of 1 hour (50%)
Seminars	14 sessions of 1 hour (39%)
Practical classes	4 sessions of 1 hour (11%)
Total	36 hours

Private study description

Reading & research.

Costs

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Assessment group A1

	Weighting	Eligible for self-certification
Ecopoetics portfolio	30%	Yes (extension)
5 pages A4 poetry-- the poetry equivalent of 1,000 words of prose-- plus 500 words of critical commentry
Portfolio of field-based writing	20%	Yes (extension)
5 pages of A4 poetry, or a site-based project-- the poetry equivalent to 1,000 words of prose-- plus 500 words of critical commentry
Final Portfolio	50%	Yes (extension)
With either an extended poetry sequence (10-20 pages A4) plus 1,000 words of critical commentry, OR a critical essay that must include some close reading of contemporary poetry.

Feedback on assessment

The instructor will give formative feedback (verbal or written) on student performance each week, as well as detailed written feedback on assessed work at the end of Units 1 and 2 during Term 1 and at the end of the module.

Courses

This module is Optional for:

Year 2 of UENA-Q300 Undergraduate English Literature
Year 2 of UENA-QP36 Undergraduate English Literature and Creative Writing
Year 2 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History
Year 2 of UTHA-QW34 Undergraduate English and Theatre Studies
Year 2 of UFIA-QW25 Undergraduate Film and Literature

This module is Option list D for:

Year 2 of UPHA-VQ72 Undergraduate Philosophy and Literature