Class Description
Do you want to try writing poetry, but don’t know where to start? Do you need to refresh your understanding of the fundamentals of the genre? Intro to Poetry will help you (re)start your engine. The main method of this class is learning by doing—diving right into the writing process and giving ourselves permission to play on the page and develop our distinct poetic voices. Each week we will study the craft and vision of modern and contemporary poets, discuss and be inspired by our findings, and use them to broaden and deepen our poetic practices.
There will be exercises and prompts designed to help us silence our inner critic and get comfortable splashing words on the page. We'll make poems that engage, surprise, and move us. The atmosphere will be congenial and collaborative, and on-the-spot feedback from the instructor and classmates will be offered on writing done in class. We'll be looking at work by a range of poets, including Cindy Williams Gutierrez, Haryette Mullen, Allen Ginsberg, Gertrude Stein, Patricia Lockwood, Sei Shonagon, and more. By the end of the course, participants will have several drafts of poems and the tools and encouragement to move forward.
Note: Class does not meet on Monday, April 21st.
Writing Roadmap: We've created a simple, goal-based writing roadmap to help you find the perfect GrubStreet course for your writing needs.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.