Advanced Poetry Writing: The Art of the Line

This intensive poetry workshop offers students the opportunity to further develop their aptitude and affinity for the practice of writing in verse lines. In this case verse is understood to mean any and all forms of writing in lines as opposed to prose sentences: metrical verse, blank verse, syllabic verse, free verse, and verse haunted by what T. S. Eliot called "the ghost of meter." Students follow a structured sequence of writing assignments, readings, and exercises aimed at cultivating a sound working knowledge of the fundamental principles of prosody and the evolving possibilities of poetic form. The collective goal is to create the conditions for reading and writing poems with a stronger sense of technical know-how and expressive conviction as well as a renewed appreciation for the inexhaustible art of the line.