POET 39 — Make It New, Make It Last: Writing Poems That Transcend Time
Quarter: Summer
Day(s): Wednesdays
Course Format: Live Online (About Formats)
Duration: 8 weeks
Date(s): Jul 12—Aug 30
Time: 6:30—9:20 pm (PT)
Refund Deadline: Jul 14
Units: 2
Tuition: $630
Instructor(s): Matthew Siegel
Limit: 21
Class Recording Available: No
Status: Open
Summer
Date(s)
Jul 12—Aug 30
8 weeks
Refund Date
Jul 14
2 Units
Fees
$630
Instructor(s):
Matthew Siegel
Limit
21
Recording
No
Open
When we read great poetry—Keats, Sappho, Rumi, Hughes—we often forget a paradoxical truth: these poets speak across the ages, but in their day, they were absolutely, excitingly of their time. How do we not only "make it new" with our poetry, as Ezra Pound's modernist imperative suggests, but also make it last? What unique challenges do we face today, and how do those challenges link us with all of humanity across time?
In this course, suitable for poets of all levels, our reading will emphasize contemporary poetry as well as classic works that remain as fresh as the moment they were written. We will look for what is both current and timeless in the poems of Eavan Boland, Natalie Diaz, Emily Dickinson, Mark Doty, Ada Limón, Morgan Parker, Ocean Vuong, and many more. This course will provide students with encouragement and support as they complete weekly writing exercises that respond to and incorporate topics from the cultures we live in. Students will be encouraged to draw inspiration widely—from pop culture, technology, nature, politics, and anything else relevant. We will also turn our attention to our inner lives and personal relationships. We will experiment with form and technique, playfully approaching pressing questions that our poetry seeks to frame, explore, and express. Students will complete the course with a bundle of new poems.
In this course, suitable for poets of all levels, our reading will emphasize contemporary poetry as well as classic works that remain as fresh as the moment they were written. We will look for what is both current and timeless in the poems of Eavan Boland, Natalie Diaz, Emily Dickinson, Mark Doty, Ada Limón, Morgan Parker, Ocean Vuong, and many more. This course will provide students with encouragement and support as they complete weekly writing exercises that respond to and incorporate topics from the cultures we live in. Students will be encouraged to draw inspiration widely—from pop culture, technology, nature, politics, and anything else relevant. We will also turn our attention to our inner lives and personal relationships. We will experiment with form and technique, playfully approaching pressing questions that our poetry seeks to frame, explore, and express. Students will complete the course with a bundle of new poems.
MATTHEW SIEGEL
Former Stegner Fellow, Stanford
Matthew Siegel is the author of Blood Work, which received the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry and was a finalist for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection from the Forward Arts Foundation in the UK. Siegel’s poems and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, The Guardian, PBS NewsHour, Poetry Ireland Review, The Rumpus, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Sun, Tin House, and elsewhere. Siegel received an MFA from the University of Houston.Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.