ENGL 6073: Topics in Creative Writing: Poetry and the Archive
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Selected topics in creative writing. Section information text: Is poetry primarily a place for the self—personal memory, experience, and emotion—or is it (has it always been?) more capacious than that? In this course, we will consider poems that boldly look outside the self, following obsessions out into the world, and deep into the archives. Far from a slog, we’ll discover how research in its many permutations—unearthing, connecting, falling down rabbit holes, and blowing dust off the relics—can become a springboard for inspiration, and how encountering so-called “nonpoetic” subjects (photographs, artifacts, the news, botany, geology, manuscripts, drawings, maps, prints, and more) can make our poems all the more radiant, nuanced, and alive. We’ll consider archives in both traditional and broad senses, reading and discussing exciting work by poets who’ve been struck by what Derrida called “archive desire.” We will then follow our own obsessions, writing and workshopping research-driven poems that open up possibilities for how we think, feel, imagine, and remember.
Average GPA: 3.95
Grade distribution records: 179 students across 15 terms.
Grade distribution
| Grade | Students | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| A | 163 | 91.1% |
| B | 7 | 3.9% |
| C | 1 | 0.6% |
| W | 8 | 4.5% |
Based on 179 student grade records across 15 terms and 4 professors.
Instructors
- Bryn Chancellor 68 students, Average GPA 3.92
- Aaron Gwyn 57 students, Average GPA 4.00
- D. Davis 32 students, Average GPA 3.94
- Allison Hutchcraft 22 students, Average GPA 3.91