This course will feature a mix of 'live' group teaching, one-on-one discussions with the tutors and self-paced elements. There will be a weekly group video conference between 7 and 8.30pm on Monday evenings. The dates for these sessions are listed below.
Please note: There is a Christmas break between sessions 11 and 12
Session 1—Monday 5 October: What’s New
An introduction to the latest poetry
Session 2—12 October: Narrative Poems
How to tell a narrative through lyric methods and experimental modes.
Session 3—19 October: Genre Poems
Is there such a thing as a genre poem? Should there be? What can we take from the themes and genres of novels and how they can expand the things we write about and the way we write them?
We'll look at poems by Katherine Kilalea and Luke Kennard.
Session 4—26 October: GUEST SLOT
Session 5—2 November: Being Weird
How weirdness is created in verse, for what effect and how elements of weirdness can be deployed to help energise a poem.
Session 6—9 November: History of Experimentation
Thinking about experimental histories in poetry – who writes them, why, and why they are necessary – to bring us to a contemporary definition of what is experimental, and what it means to ‘experiment’.
We'll look at poems by Hope Mirrlees, Denise Riley, Geraldine Monk, Haryette Mullen, Will Alexander and Verity Spott.
Session 7—16 November: Imbrication
How we weave the edges of one thought into the succeeding ones so the fabric of the sentence is seamless and adequate for the copious vision.
Session 8—23 November: GUEST SLOT
Session 9—30 November: Ecological Thinking
The current climate of contemporary ecopoetics. Animal-human relationships and ecological thinking.
We'll be discussing poems by Isabel Galleymore, Rebecca Tamas, John Kinsella and Elizabeth Jane-Burnett
Session 10—7 December: Mastering the Breath
How to control the breath within and down the line through grammar and rhythm.
Session 11—14 December: Funny Bones
How to create serious humour through the philosophy of laughter.
—Christmas Break—
Session 12—4 January: Free Verse
The history behind the go-to form in contemporary poetry. A look at what it means to follow natural rhythms and speech and how to better understand the mode in which poets largely write now.
We'll be looking at work by Veronica Forrest Thomson and Hannah Sullivan.
Session 13—11 January: Syllabic Verse
How this neglected form can inspire your imagination and create compression in the poem.
Session 14—18 January: Gender, Sexuality and Poetics
Recent movements in queer and gender non-conforming poetics
We'll look at the work of Richard Scott, C.A.Conrad, Eileen Myles and Danez Smith.
Session 15—25 January: GUEST SLOT
Session 16—1 February: Rhythm Fun
Methods to create basic and advanced rhythms in verse so we have maximum control of the subject and the reader’s breath.
Session 17—8 February: Prose Poems
A look at a history of the prose poem, and the blurry line between flash and short fiction and prose poem. How the strengths of prose can be utilised to make the most out of poems.
We'll consider poems by Russell Edson, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Cathy Park Hong and Lydia Davis.
Session 18—15 February: Mood & Consciousness
What is the science behind the significance of creating a mood, and how is this ‘qualia’ significant for the poet when creating exciting new work?
Session 19—22 February: GUEST SLOT
Session 20—1 March: Writing in Sequence
Thinking about how writing sequentially can push our poetry to breach limits we impose on it. How can our ideas be expanded when we work through them in sequences? How can a poem still stand alone and live as part of a longer work?
We'll look at the work of A.R. Ammons, Claudia Rankine, Sophie Collins, Ben Lerner and Sylvia Legris.
Session 21—8 March: The Art of Performance
Ways to control breath, the reading voice and find the best method for reciting your own verse
Session 22—15 March: Grand Finale
Students perform their own poems to the group and invited guests