Byrne Seminar: The Poetry of Astronomy
Spring 2019
The Byrne Seminar
program is sponsored by the Rutgers
Office of
Undergraduate Academic Affairs.
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Instructors
Prof. Andrew
Baker
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Office: Serin Laboratory W309 (Busch Campus)
Office hours: TBD (or by appointment)
Phone: 848-445-8887
Email (preferred): ajbaker[at]physics.rutgers.edu
Prof. Carolyn Williams
Department of English
Office: Murray Hall 020 (College Avenue Campus)
Office hours: TBD (or by appointment)
Phone: 848-932-7680
Email (preferred): carolyn.williams[at]rutgers.edu
Venue
Wednesday (2:50-4:10pm) in Murray Hall 002
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Textbook
No textbook is required for this course, although students who find the
subject matter interesting may wish to purchase A Responsibility to Awe by the late astronomer
Rebecca Elson.
Course description
Poetry inspired by the beauty of the night sky dates back more than two
thousand years and is still written today. However, the progress of science
means that the night sky increasingly offers knowledge as well as beauty and
wonder, giving poets new subjects, concepts, and themes with which to work.
This seminar will examine the poetry of astronomy — poems written on
astronomical subjects, and in some cases by astronomers — from both
literary and scientific perspectives, under the guidance of professors from
the Departments of English and Physics & Astronomy. Each week will feature
discussion of a set of astronomy-related poems with a common theme, building
on an introduction to the modern understanding of relevant background
material. As a capstone project, each student will conduct an interview with
a research astronomer, whose contact information will be provided, and whose
subject matter will inform the student's composition of a small set of
original poems. The seminar will introduce students to the practice of
research in both the humanities and the natural sciences and will have
special appeal for those whose interests span both areas, although no
familiarity with astronomy or writing poetry is required.
Grading
Your course grade will be PA/NC based on two elements:
- active participation in class discussions and reading of 4-5 assigned
poems per week (50%)
- final project (50%)
For the final project, you will be required to (i) interview an astronomer,
whose contact information will be given to you, about the subject and methods
of his/her research; (ii) compose three poems inspired by your interview
— one about the general subject matter of your interviewee's research,
one about a specific project s/he is working on, and one about his/her
experience of being a scientist; and (iii) provide a short description (just
a few sentences) of each poem, providing information on its inspiration in
terms of content and style. Final projects should be submitted to both
instructors as PDF documents by email, or as paper copies, before the start
of class on April 10.
Schedule
The first meeting of this course will be in the second week of the
semester, on January 30. For each of the first six meetings, we will spend
the first half of class discussing poems and the second half of the class
discussing aspects of astronomy that are relevant to the next week's
assigned poems. The seventh meeting will be a practical workshop on how
to write poems of your own; the eighth will be entirely devoted to the
discussion of poems; and the last two meetings will be dedicated to discussion
of students' poems.
CLASS |
DATE |
POETRY |
ASTRONOMY |
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Jan 23 |
no class |
no class |
1 |
Jan 30 |
introduction |
the night sky |
2 |
Feb 6 |
the night sky |
gravity |
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Feb 13 |
no class |
no class |
3 |
Feb 20 |
gravity |
dark matter |
4 |
Feb 27 |
dark matter |
cosmology |
5 |
Mar 6 |
cosmology |
the stellar life cycle |
6 |
Mar 13 |
the stellar life cycle |
instruments; being a scientist |
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Mar 20 |
no class (spring break) |
no class (spring break) |
7 |
Mar 27 |
writing your own poems |
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Apr 3 |
no class |
no class |
8 |
Apr 10 |
student poems |
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9 |
Apr 17 |
student poems |
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10 |
Apr 24 |
student poems |
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Other items
- Absences
If you need to miss a class, you should report your absence at this website. More
than two unexcused absences will result in a "NC" grade for this course.
- Students with disabilities
Rutgers University welcomes students with disabilities into all of the
university's educational programs. In order to receive consideration for
reasonable accommodations, a student with a disability must contact the
appropriate disability services office on the campus where (s)he is officially
enrolled, participate in an intake interview, and provide
documentation. If the documentation supports your request
for reasonable accommodations, your campus's disability services office will
provide you with a Letter of Accommodations. Please share this letter with
your instructors and discuss the accommodations with them as early in your
courses as possible. To begin this process, please complete the
registration form on the Office of Disability Services
(ODS) web site.
- Student wellness services
The School of Arts and
Sciences and the Rutgers
University Student Assembly have requested that all course syllabi
include the following information on resources to support student wellness:
- The Just In Case Web App
provides access to helpful mental health information and resources for
yourself or a friend in a mental health crisis on your smartphone or tablet,
and easily contacts CAPS or RUPD.
- Rutgers Counseling, Alcohol & Other Drug Assistance Program, and
Psychiatric Services (CAPS) (848-932-7884; 17 Senior Street in
New Brunswick) is a University mental health support service that includes
counseling, alcohol and other drug assistance, and psychiatric services
staffed by a team of professionals within Rutgers Health Services to support
students' efforts to succeed at Rutgers University. CAPS offers a variety of
services that include individual therapy, group therapy and workshops, crisis
intervention, referral to specialists in the community and consultation, and
collaboration with campus partners.
- The Office for
Violence Prevention & Victim Assistance (VPVA) (848-932-1181; 3 Bartlett
Street in New Brunswick) provides confidential crisis intervention,
counseling, and advocacy for victims of sexual and relationship violence and
stalking to students, staff, and faculty. Staff can be reached by phone
during office hours when the university; advocates can be reached by phone
after hours.
- The Office of Disability
Services (848-445-6800; Lucy Stone Hall, Suite A145, Livingston Campus,
54 Joyce Kilmer Avenue in Piscataway) works with students with documented
disabilities to determine eligibility for reasonable accommodations,
facilitates and coordinates those accommodations when applicable, and lastly
engages with the Rutgers community at large to provide and connect students
to appropriate resources.
-
Scarlet Listeners (732-247-5555) is a free and confidential peer counseling
and referral hotline, providing a comforting and supportive safe space.
Last updated February 21, 2019.