cfp.english.upenn.edu

Below is a call for submissions to a proposed panel at the 2011 ISSN Conference.

Professor Brian McHale (Ohio State University) has generously agreed to moderate the panel if it is selected for inclusion in the conference. If you are interested, please send a 250-word abstract, paper title, and 100-word bio to lgleich@umd.edu by October 1st.

Panel Title: Poetic Devices and Narrative Dynamics

The vast majority of recent narratological analyses of poetry focus on the ways in which the conventions of lyric, epic, and narrative intersect in individual poems. Although these studies are useful for explaining how these different forms of poetry work together or against one another, they do not help identify the particular ways in which narratives function differently when communicated through the medium of verse rather than prose. This panel will offer an alternative approach. Through close analysis of individual poems, the panel explores how traditional poetic devices-- such as sound patterning, lineation, and semantic ambiguity--affect the construction of plots.