Poetry I: Intro to Poetry Writing

Note: Though this class is offered as part of the Certificate in Poetry Writing, there is no pre-requisite to join this class. All students, members, and nonmembers are encouraged to enroll.

Maybe in third grade your teacher said: “Tomorrow, children, we are going to write poems. Because everyone can be a poet.” Never does the teacher say, “Tomorrow, children we are going to write a novel.” (or a piece of creative non-fiction) So how do you become a poet? This workshop is designed to introduce you to the history of poetry today and provide a toolbox of techniques. The ultimate goal of the entire Certification process is to enable the writer to produce a publishable manuscript. In each workshop session, writing assignments or prompts will be provided as well as precise and qualitative feedback on the poems produced. Although not necessary, this workshop is designed to strongly encourage the generation of new work and the fine-tuning of previously written poems.

Objectives:

Upon completing this workshop, you will have:

- Gained knowledge of the basic tools of the poet

- Experienced the productive quality of a read and critique workshop

- Read and analyzed two different books of poetry or poetry craft

- Developed an ability to actively analyze and critique a poem

- Established a writing habit of working from a prompt

Week 1

Introductions and introduction to Poetry 1, syllabus review, goals of the Session one, goals of the entire program. Tips for evaluating a book of poetry. How to critique a poem. How to participate in a workshop. Introduce Zapruder concepts of Understanding vs. Meaning. Homework: begin to pick/order your books. Take home writing prompt.

Week 2

Why does poetry sound the way it does today?

In-class writing prompt

Week 3

The three elements of Poetry by Pound: Image, Idea and Music. First read and critique class workshop.

Week 4

Metaphor and simile, assonance, consonance, anaphoric, personification, onomatopoeia, alliteration, symbolism, etc. Read and critique class workshop.

Week 5

Poetry techniques: time, place, mood, the volta, inside to outside, global to specific, voice, character, abstraction—productive and nonproductive. Read and critique class workshop.

Assignments:

Each participant will choose one book of poetry and one poetry craft book and submit, by week 5, a one to two page analysis of the book and its value, or not, to the individual’s poetry writing. Poem prompts will be given each week with the anticipation that the participants will generate new work. Participants are expected to actively participate in the read and critique portions of the workshop.

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