51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ

Course Description

Summary

Writing poems is not about the expression of the emotions of the writer, but about creating complex, individual works of art that manipulate the emotions of the reader.  In this course we will study the effects of tone, musicality, rhetoric and prosody as they move through a chosen subject, discussing the most effective and artful ways to make poems worthy of the gift of a reader's attention.  Students will write a new poem every week in response to assignments, read from a range of contemporary and canonical texts, offer acute and humane critiques of their peers' work, and engage in active discussion; students will also write critically about the work we read.  Participants will have a mandatory bi-weekly conference with me, and will be expected to attend all scheduled Poetry at Bennington events during the fall.