Writing Poetry
Overview
How can poetic form help me to turn the passion and intensity of life into memorable expressions? How can an appreciation of the techniques used by past and living poets help me to improve as a poet? Take this course and find out.
Poetry can seem like a members-only club. Even the names of poetic forms such as 'sonnet', 'villanelle', and 'sestina' can be as intimidating as the list of writers associated with them, from Shakespeare to Shelley to Sean O'Brien. This course is designed to demystify poetic composition, and to help students to gain the confidence to produce poems of their own. It introduces students to a wide range of poems and poetic techniques with the aim of enabling them to gain a deeper appreciation of how poetry works, an understanding of the forms best suited to the kind of statements that they are interested in making, and confidence in deploying such devices as metre, rhyme, figurative language. This course is for anyone who would like to start to write - or to write better - poetry.
Course aims
This course aims to introduce participants to a wide variety of poetic technique and form.
Teaching methods
- guided reading;
- guided writing tasks;
- guided use of relevant websites;
- use of tutor notes and handouts;
- close critical analyses of selected extracts from the texts studied and participants own writing.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course participants will be expected to understand:
- a wide range of verse forms and structures;
- notable examples of poetic forms from the history of literature in English;
- the relative advantages and challenges of one verse form over another;
- which forms and techniques are best suited to one's own emerging voice.
For more information click "LINK TO ORIGINAL" below.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/writing-poetry-online?code=O19P480CRV