The Major Conference for Honors in Creative Writing requires students to produce an "Honors Portfolio." If you are working directly with me, the expectation is that you are concentrating in the genre of poetry, and therefore a collection of poetry will constitute the honors portfolio. The length of the project and the nature of the work will be determined jointly by the student and myself. The portfolio should be the culmination of a student’s best work that represents a clearly conceived and well integrated whole (either a single, well developed work, or a coherent group of texts that make a collection). It should aspire to the level of creative work expected of graduate students in M.F.A. programs in creative writing. To achieve that level of accomplishment, the portfolio should have the following characteristics:
• A clear aesthetic vision that makes the piece purposeful and resonant.
• Use of language and images that is precise, fresh, and evocative.
• A consistent and well developed voice that gives the piece originality and authority.
• An awareness of literary tradition and contemporary art that is reflected in a thoughtful positioning within and against what has already been written.
• A masterful use image, symbol, meter, rhyme, lineation, etc.
• A clear concern with matters of craft that reflects a sense of an audience