Advanced Unrhymed Poetry

This course offers an opportunity to see what FanStorians are publishing and how what they publish does or does not affect current discussions in the field. The topic for 2013 is "Pieces of Her Mind", a book produced by eighteen women poets on FanStory. Access to the book is required, as is previous participation in Japanese forms--beginner class or Japanese Aesthetics--Intro class or having worked on the book.

Week I. Introduction to the Origin of the Book. Prepublication Discussions. Students will have the opportunity to write an essay on how they view the pre-production process of the book and evaluate it.

Week II. Senryu. Students will discuss how the book affects the discussion on whether or not senryu is a subset of haiku and how the book affects current discussions on that issue.

Week III. Kyoka. Students will discuss how the book affects the discussion on whether or not a kyoka really should be called a tanka and how the book affects current discussions on that issue.

Week IV. Haiga. Here students will discuss the modern and postmodern graphic techniques brought to haiga in the book. Does changing the location of the poem from one block in one part of the print to breaking it up over the print change the effect of the haiga? How does it affect the haiga tradition?


Instructor: Alvin Thomas Ethington

About The Instructor: Alvin Thomas Ethington (B.A. With Highest Honors, Oberlin College, 1979; M. Div. With Honors, Yale University, 1983) is a noted teacher, writer, and reviewer. He has taught at Chaffey College, Rancho Cucamonga, California and Triton College, River Grove, Illinois. He prepared community college students for study at major private and public four-year colleges and universities, including Pitzer College, Claremont, California; the University of Southern California, Los Angeles; and the University of Illinois-Chicago campus.

He is a published author and was recently honored for his haiku. His poem "haiku (empty chair)" is on the audio tour of The Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California, Poets on Site Tour.

He specializes in languages, culture, and religion. He has substituted for the Greek instructor at California State University at Fullerton and has tutored Biblical Hebrew.

He has been a member of FanStory since 2006 and has won Reviewer of the Month six times. He has also performed pre-publication editing for the former Bishop of Los Angeles, Episcopal (The Rt. Rev. Frederick Houk Borsch) and reviewed college textbooks.

His philosophy on teaching comes from his work as a counselor--he believes that teaching should be student-centered and designs his courses according to the students' needs.