POET 37 W — Poetry Workshop: Write without Fear
Quarter: Winter
Course Format: Flex Online (About Formats)
Duration: 10 weeks
Date(s): Jan 16—Mar 22
Refund Deadline: Jan 19
Units: 3
Tuition: $1000
Instructor(s): Jackson Holbert
Limit: 19
Class Recording Available: Yes
Status: Open
Winter
Flex Online(About Formats)
Date(s)
Jan 16—Mar 22
10 weeks
Refund Date
Jan 19
3 Units
Fees
$1000
Instructor(s):
Jackson Holbert
Limit
19
Recording
Yes
Open
In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing.
About the dark times.
—Bertolt Brecht
In these times of public calamity, reading or writing poetry provides the opportunity to both engage with the wider world and examine our existence—with all its ills and joys—from a renewed vantage point. Poems allow us to concentrate our most intense feelings and hold them up to the light in ways that news and even prose cannot. Whether our poems entertain our joys or despairs, there will be singing. In this course, we will study what goes into a successful poem and address the difficulties and rewards of writing poems about fraught or intense subjects—be they personal or global. We will discuss how poets like Lucille Clifton, Ada Limón, and Mary Oliver employ sound, form, and imagery to produce work that finds hope—and warmth—even in the coldest of places. We will use these poets and weekly prompts as a jumping-off point to enter our own work. Students will turn in a poem every other week, for a total of five poems, putting these works up for peer and instructor critique.
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing.
About the dark times.
—Bertolt Brecht
In these times of public calamity, reading or writing poetry provides the opportunity to both engage with the wider world and examine our existence—with all its ills and joys—from a renewed vantage point. Poems allow us to concentrate our most intense feelings and hold them up to the light in ways that news and even prose cannot. Whether our poems entertain our joys or despairs, there will be singing. In this course, we will study what goes into a successful poem and address the difficulties and rewards of writing poems about fraught or intense subjects—be they personal or global. We will discuss how poets like Lucille Clifton, Ada Limón, and Mary Oliver employ sound, form, and imagery to produce work that finds hope—and warmth—even in the coldest of places. We will use these poets and weekly prompts as a jumping-off point to enter our own work. Students will turn in a poem every other week, for a total of five poems, putting these works up for peer and instructor critique.
JACKSON HOLBERT
Jones Lecturer and Former Stegner Fellow, Stanford
Jackson Holbert's work has appeared in The Nation, Narrative, The Iowa Review, and Poetry. He has taught poetry to communities in and around northern Idaho and also at The Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship Program and Stanford. He received an MFA from the Michener Center for Writers. His first book, Winter Stranger, received the Max Ritvo Prize.Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.