Part I: The three poets chosen for this week are among the leading poets of contemporary American literature (there are many others, however). As you read their work from the Poetry Foundation's websi

Part I: The three poets chosen for this week are among the leading poets of contemporary American literature (there are many others, however). As you read their work from the Poetry Foundation's website, read a little bit about their biographies as well. How do you see these poets fitting into the American literary tradition as we have experienced it so far? 

Part II: One contemporary trend in poetry is known loosely as the "confessional mode," in which the poet's own life becomes an important element of the subject of his or her poetry. All three of these poets clearly work in the confessional vein to some extent. How do they keep their poems from being merely about themselves?

Part III. You probably know John Grisham better from his novels than from his journalistic essays. In what ways does his magazine essay, included in our text, seem "fictional" to you--not necessarily fictional in the sense of things being made up, but rather in terms of style or writing technique?

 Submission Instructions: 

Your initial discussion should be at least 200 words. It must include MLA citations – both in-text and an end citation. Citations are not counted as part of your 200 word count requirement.

Read: John Grisham: Somewhere for Everyone (in our text).Read: Sharon Olds, "First Thanksgiving" at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/53387Read: Sharon Olds, "Still Life in Landscape" at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/53386Read: Sharon Olds, "After Making Love in Winter" at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=36723Read: Sharon Olds, "The Planned Child" at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=36230Read: Linda Pastan, "A Rainy Country" at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=42085Read: Linda Pastan, "I Am Learning to Abandon the World" at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/detail/34957Read: Linda Pastan, "The Obligation to Be Happy" at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/detail/39788Read: Linda Pastan, "Why Are Your Poems So Dark?" at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/detail/41918Read: Larry Levis, "SIgns" at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/47941Read: Larry Levis, "To a Wren on Calvary" at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/47946Read: Larry Levis, "Winter Stars" at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/53388