Advanced Poetry Online Workshop

The advanced poetry workshop is intended for those who have previous poetry workshop experience and are working on producing publishable material. While some elements of what goes into the writing of an extraordinary poem are ineffable and alchemical, this course will focus on the most teachable element of writing poetic verse: craft. This course is structured around the philosophy that in order to become better at writing poetry, it is necessary to write, read, and revise excessively. Each week of this eight-week course will include assigned readings on poetic craft, assigned poems that complement the craft readings, poetry prompts, and group feedback on student poems. This online course will be run primarily via a blog-like format, but we will also use Google Hangouts to have an electronic face-to-face workshop toward the end of the class. Many of the readings will be available online, but there will be two required texts: The Art of Daring by Carl Phillips and My Feelings by Nick Flynn.