Appealing to the Archives: The origins of Junior Poet
Camille Izlar
Issue date: 11/17/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Provided that you are a somewhat observant individual, you might have noticed some of your fellow students acting a bit strangely these past two weeks. They would be upperclassmen, dressed particularly nicely, smoking incessantly - and I mean more than usual - or gesticulating wildly while reciting lines of poetry to themselves. Or they might be poring over official-looking white envelopes, the perusal of which causes them to erupt into cheers and joyful leaping.
This crowd of slightly abnormal, or perhaps simply maximally UD-ish, students are the newly minted veterans of the Junior Poet Project. Now, it is not the intention of this article to extol the English major as the best and only worthwhile major but rather to celebrate an age-old academic tradition that exemplifies the goals of a liberal arts education.
In 1964, Dr. Louise Cowan created the Junior Poet Project a brief two years after she had arrived at the University and put into effect the Literary Tradition sequence. She instigated this wholly original program, which still characterizes our unique English department. To put it briefly, the Junior Poet Project is a comprehensive study of one British or American poet, including a thorough knowledge of his or her biography, an intense examination of criticism and a comprehensive perspective on their body of work. At the end of the semester, a Junior Poet student produces an annotated bibliography of 25 sources of the major criticism on their poet and faces the daunting panel of three English professors entitled to ask them practically any question on their particular poet. Although when Cowan created the project there was no limit on the number of sources, the concept remains fundamentally the same today.
Dr. John Alvis and Dr. Eileen Gregory were members of the first class of Junior Poet students in 1964, and their longstanding commitment to this project and the school attests to the effectiveness of this project. By studying the development of a poet through the changes in his career, one is submerged into the consciousness of the poet, accruing an idea of the poet's philosophy and typical modes of expression. In addition, the project allows for a clear view of the nature of the unity between form and content. Finally, the project forces a student to become an independent critic, in fact an authority, a unique experience for any undergraduate. As a result of this expertise, one measures oneself against the voice of the recognized authority as located within the criticism. One then is able not only to enter into conversation with the poet but also to be competent enough to take part in the scholarly debate on him or her.
As one of the oldest institutions in the school, the Junior Poet Project forms but one example of our tradition of academic excellence. The moment of authority fostered by the Junior Poet Project, however, is shared by most UD majors, whether it be a thesis project or an art show. The Junior Poet Project's singularity results from its origin at UD by Cowan.
*"Appealing to the Archives" is a recurring column that focuses on University traditions and history.
This crowd of slightly abnormal, or perhaps simply maximally UD-ish, students are the newly minted veterans of the Junior Poet Project. Now, it is not the intention of this article to extol the English major as the best and only worthwhile major but rather to celebrate an age-old academic tradition that exemplifies the goals of a liberal arts education.
In 1964, Dr. Louise Cowan created the Junior Poet Project a brief two years after she had arrived at the University and put into effect the Literary Tradition sequence. She instigated this wholly original program, which still characterizes our unique English department. To put it briefly, the Junior Poet Project is a comprehensive study of one British or American poet, including a thorough knowledge of his or her biography, an intense examination of criticism and a comprehensive perspective on their body of work. At the end of the semester, a Junior Poet student produces an annotated bibliography of 25 sources of the major criticism on their poet and faces the daunting panel of three English professors entitled to ask them practically any question on their particular poet. Although when Cowan created the project there was no limit on the number of sources, the concept remains fundamentally the same today.
Dr. John Alvis and Dr. Eileen Gregory were members of the first class of Junior Poet students in 1964, and their longstanding commitment to this project and the school attests to the effectiveness of this project. By studying the development of a poet through the changes in his career, one is submerged into the consciousness of the poet, accruing an idea of the poet's philosophy and typical modes of expression. In addition, the project allows for a clear view of the nature of the unity between form and content. Finally, the project forces a student to become an independent critic, in fact an authority, a unique experience for any undergraduate. As a result of this expertise, one measures oneself against the voice of the recognized authority as located within the criticism. One then is able not only to enter into conversation with the poet but also to be competent enough to take part in the scholarly debate on him or her.
As one of the oldest institutions in the school, the Junior Poet Project forms but one example of our tradition of academic excellence. The moment of authority fostered by the Junior Poet Project, however, is shared by most UD majors, whether it be a thesis project or an art show. The Junior Poet Project's singularity results from its origin at UD by Cowan.
*"Appealing to the Archives" is a recurring column that focuses on University traditions and history.
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