At the Condensery: Reading and Writing Short Poems
1.0
creditsAverage Course Rating
In her poem "Poet's Work," Lorine Niedecker says the trade of poets is to "sit at desk/ and condense.". In this course, we will trace an abridged history of short poems (defined as having fewer than fourteen lines) in English, from Ben Jonson to Emily Dickinson to 20th and 21st century poets such as W.C. Williams, Langston Hughes, Michael Longley, and Jean Valentine. We will think about the traits and limits of short poems, and strategies for writing good ones. Students will write free verse as well as poems in forms such as haiku, rispetto, shadorma, limerick, nonet, and erasure. The final portfolio will include short poems as well as three (short, of course) essays.
No Course Evaluations found