POET 24 W — The Apprenticeship: Taking Inspiration from Ten Masterpiece Poems
Spring
Date(s)
Mar 28—Jun 3
10 weeks
Drop By
Mar 31
3 Units
Fees
$805
Open
What can the great master poets teach us about
finding inspiration and direction for our own
writing? Each week, we will apprentice ourselves to
a different outstanding poet—Sylvia Plath, Robert
Hayden, and John Keats, among others. We won’t just
read their poems; we will seek to understand their work
from the inside out. Just as a painting student might
render a study of a Cézanne, or a dancer might innovate
the choreography of Alvin Ailey, we will imitate,
analyze, and argue with an exceptional poem each
week, zeroing in on the essentials of poetic craft and
inspiring our own original work.
The first three weeks will be spent familiarizing ourselves with poetic terms and concepts (What is blank verse?) and improving our ability to analyze and evaluate poems (What makes Shakespeare’s sonnets so great, if you think they are great?). For the rest of the quarter, we’ll alternate between workshopping our original work and exploring a particular craft topic such as confessional poetry or rhyme. As we become better readers of exceptional poems, we will become better poets. By the end of the course, students will have a sheaf of new work, a greater appreciation for the poetic tradition, and the tools to engage the greats—as teachers, foils, and inspiration.
The first three weeks will be spent familiarizing ourselves with poetic terms and concepts (What is blank verse?) and improving our ability to analyze and evaluate poems (What makes Shakespeare’s sonnets so great, if you think they are great?). For the rest of the quarter, we’ll alternate between workshopping our original work and exploring a particular craft topic such as confessional poetry or rhyme. As we become better readers of exceptional poems, we will become better poets. By the end of the course, students will have a sheaf of new work, a greater appreciation for the poetic tradition, and the tools to engage the greats—as teachers, foils, and inspiration.
This is an online course. For more information about the Online Writing Program, visit our FAQs.
Greg Wrenn, Jones Lecturer; Former Stegner Fellow, Stanford
Greg Wrenn’s first book of poems, Centaur, received the 2013 Brittingham Prize. His work has appeared in New England Review, The American Poetry Review, The Southern Review, The Yale Review, and elsewhere. Wrenn received an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis.Textbooks for this course:
Helen Vendler, Poems, Poets, Poetry : An Introduction and Anthology (ISBN 978-0312463199)