Taking Shape: Experimenting with Form in Poetry
Schedule
Sun Jan 29 2023 at 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Location
Online | York, NY
Advertisement
Do you have ideas for poems, but haven’t found a way to begin writing? Sometimes the best way to break through is to experiment with form. We will examine how form and subject work together to create memorable poems by reading and discussing poems by diverse writers. This is a craft workshop for writers of all levels in which you will learn how to use traditional forms like the sonnet, ghazal, pantoum, villanelle and newer forms like the duplex and golden shovel. Participants will be given prompts to write a different form each week to share with the group; however these drafts will not be work-shopped. The spirit of this class is to deepen your understanding of form, to experiment, and have fun with structure. Open to writers of all levels.WHEN: 4 Weeks: Sundays, January 8 - 29 (10 - 12pm EST)
WHERE: Online, via Zoom video conference (live)
COST: $ 250
REGISTER: https://www.pioneervalleywriters.org/store/p220/Taking_Shape%3A_Experimenting_with_Form_in_Poetry_%28with_Gail_Thomas%29_-_ONLINE.html
GOALS OF THIS COURSE
• Learn the mechanics and structure of traditional and modern poetic forms.
• Gain exposure to the work of a wide range of diverse poets.
• Benefit from discussion of formal poetry and different points of view.
• Gain confidence in experimenting with aspects of form.
• Generate ideas and structure for new poems.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
GAIL THOMAS' books are Trail of Roots, Leaving Paradise, Odd Mercy, Waving Back, No Simple Wilderness, and Finding the Bear. Her poems have been widely published in journals and anthologies including CALYX, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, North American Review, Cumberland River Review, and Mom Egg Review. Among her awards are the Charlotte Mew Prize from Headmistress Press for Odd Mercy, the Narrative Poetry Prize from Naugatuck River Review, the Massachusetts Center for the Book’s “Must Read” for Waving Back, the Quartet Journal’s Editor’s Choice Prize, and Seven Kitchen Press’s A.V. Christie Chapbook Series award for Trail of Roots. She has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony and Ucross, and several poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She teaches poetry with Pioneer Valley Writers’ Workshops, visits schools and libraries with her therapy dog, and works with immigrant and refugee communities in Western Massachusetts.
COURSE OUTLINE
Week One: Sonnets and Terza Rima
Through reading and discussion of traditional, modern and American sonnets by diverse poets, we will explore variations of this form. Instruction will include use of types of rhyme and enjambment.
Week Two: Repetition
We will read and discuss both traditional and modern examples of the pantoum, villanelle, and ghazal by diverse poets who employ repetition.
Week Three: But is it Poetry?
Poetic forms that often are controversial are prose poems, erasure, found poems, and the cento. By reading and discussion examples of these, we will come to a greater understanding of the use of form.
Week Four: Old and New
We will read examples of old forms that may seem simple like haiku, cinquain, and aubade, and new forms like the duplex and golden shovel. We will conclude by a reading of student work completed during this workshop.
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
Online, ,New York,NY,United States, YorkEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
