Courses

What kind of sentence captures anxiety? Euphoria? Exhaustion? The stylistic techniques of a sentence—syntax, diction, imagery, rhythm, and sound—are not decoration but content. All writers rely on the same building blocks: words. But what they do with those words distinguishes and defines their voices. James Baldwin’s sentences pulse with biblical repetition; Grace Paley blended the colloquial and the poetic; Toni Morrison employed simile and synecdoche to powerful effect. Each week, we’ll closely read excerpts from novels, essays, short stories, and poems, examining them at the sentence level. You’ll then craft 3–6 sentences of your own, applying a specific technique we’ve studied, attending closely to the architecture and rhythm of each line. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to write sentences that do more than move the story along. Writers in any genre who want to strengthen their work at the sentence level are welcome.