Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Module Catalogue

EN3F2-30 Ecopoetics: Poetry and World-Ecology

Department
English and Comparative Literary Studies
Level
Undergraduate Level 3
Module leader
Jonathan Skinner
Credit value
30
Module duration
20 weeks
Assessment
100% coursework
Study location
University of Warwick main campus, Coventry

Download as PDF

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 Introduction to the module
2 Walking
3 Gardens
4 Urban environments
5 Site-specific work

6 Reading Week

7 Nature Writing
8 (Post-)Darwinism and Natural History
9 ‘The End of Nature’
10 World-Ecology

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

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

Jonathan Skinner, ed. Ecopoetics (journal), vols 1-7 (Field Books, 2001-2009)

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

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

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)

Russo, Linda and Marthe Reed. Counter-Desecration: A Glossary for Writing Within the Anthropocene (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2018)

Garrard, Greg. Ecocriticism, 3rd Ed. (London: Routledge, 2023)

Fisher-Wirth Ann and Laura Gray-Street. Attached to the Living World: A New Ecopoetry Anthology (San Antonio, TX: Trinity UP, 2025)

Subject specific skills

  • 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.

Transferable skills

TBC

Study time

Type Required
Seminars 18 sessions of 2 hours (12%)
Private study 264 hours (88%)
Total 300 hours

Private study description

Reading & research.

Costs

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You must pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Assessment group A3
Weighting Study time Eligible for self-certification
Assessment component
Ecopoetics portfolio 30% Yes (extension)

10 pages A4 poetry—the poetry equivalent of 2,000 words of prose—plus 1,000 words of critical commentary
Reassessment component is the same
Assessment component
Portfolio of field-based writing 20% Yes (extension)

5 pages of A4 poetry, or a site-based project—the poetry equivalent of 1,000 words of prose—plus 1,000 words of critical commentary
Reassessment component is the same
Assessment component
Final Portfolio 50% Yes (extension)

With EITHER an extended poetry sequence (20 pages A4 or a site-based project, the poetry equivalent of 3,000 words of prose) plus 1,000 words of critical commentary, OR a critical essay (4,000 words) that must include some close reading of contemporary poetry.
Reassessment component is the same
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 3 of UCXA-QQ37 Undergraduate Classics and English
  • Year 4 of UCXA-QQ38 Undergraduate Classics and English (with Intercalated Year)
  • UENA-QQ00 Undergraduate English & Cultural Studies
    • Year 3 of QQ00 English & Cultural Studies
    • Year 3 of QQ00 English & Cultural Studies
  • Year 3 of UENA-Q300 Undergraduate English Literature
  • Year 3 of UENA-QP36 Undergraduate English Literature and Creative Writing
  • Year 4 of UENA-QP37 Undergraduate English Literature and Creative Writing with Intercalated Year
  • Year 4 of UENA-Q301 Undergraduate English Literature with Intercalated Year
  • Year 3 of UCXA-QQ39 Undergraduate English and Classical Civilisation
  • Year 4 of UCXA-QQ3A Undergraduate English and Classical Civilisation (with Intercalated Year)
  • Year 4 of UFRA-QR3A Undergraduate English and French
  • Year 4 of ULNA-QR37 Undergraduate English and German
  • Year 4 of UHPA-QR34 Undergraduate English and Hispanic Studies
  • Year 3 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History
  • UENA-VQ33 Undergraduate English and History (with Intercalated year)
    • Year 4 of VQ33 English and History (with Intercalated year)
    • Year 4 of VQ33 English and History (with Intercalated year)
  • Year 3 of UENA-VQ34 Undergraduate English and History (with a term in Venice)
  • Year 4 of ULNA-QR38 Undergraduate English and Italian
  • Year 3 of UTHA-QW34 Undergraduate English and Theatre Studies
  • Year 4 of UENA-QW35 Undergraduate English and Theatre Studies with Intercalated Year
  • Year 3 of UFIA-QW25 Undergraduate Film and Literature
  • Year 4 of UFIA-QW26 Undergraduate Film and Literature (with Study Abroad)
  • Year 3 of ULAA-M136 Undergraduate Law with Humanities (3 Year)
  • Year 3 of UVCA-LA99 Undergraduate Liberal Arts
  • UVCA-LA98 Undergraduate Liberal Arts with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of LA85 Liberal Arts with Classics with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of LA72 Liberal Arts with Design Studies with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of LA79 Liberal Arts with Economics with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of LA78 Liberal Arts with Education with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of LA88 Liberal Arts with English with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of LA77 Liberal Arts with Film and Television Studies with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of LA76 Liberal Arts with Global Sustainable Development with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of LA86 Liberal Arts with Global Sustainable Development with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of LA90 Liberal Arts with History with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of LA98 Liberal Arts with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of LA84 Liberal Arts with Life Sciences with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of LA74 Liberal Arts with Modern Lanaguages and Cultures with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of LA89 Liberal Arts with Philosophy with Intercalated Year
    • Year 4 of LA87 Liberal Arts with Theatre and Performance Studies with Intercalated Year
  • Year 3 of UPHA-VQ72 Undergraduate Philosophy and Literature
  • Year 4 of UPHA-VQ73 Undergraduate Philosophy and Literature with Intercalated Year
  • Year 3 of UPHA-VQ52 Undergraduate Philosophy, Literature and Classics
  • Year 4 of UPHA-VQ53 Undergraduate Philosophy, Literature and Classics (with Work Placement)
  • Available to all finalist students on non-English Literature degree programmes – subject to availability and must have A level English Literature or equivalent qualification.