Poetry 101: Poetic Line

Member Price: $30
1 Session
Deadline to Register: January 20, 5 pm
Instructor: Anastasia Nikolis

Line breaks give poetry its hallmark appearance on the page by turning blocks of text into short, neat lines. But line breaks aren’t made by randomly hitting the return key on your keyboard. When used well, they can expand the logic of the preceding line or subvert the meaning of a sentence in order to create tension and drama. In this workshop, we will look at an array of examples, including several from our featured book of poems, The Tradition, by Jericho Brown;  and refer to James Longenbach’s The Art of the Poetic Line to see how line breaks work and why they are such an effective tool in the poet’s toolbox.

Anastasia Nikolis is a scholar, writer, and teacher. She holds a PhD in English Literature from the University of Rochester, where she focused on 20th-21st century American poetry. She currently is the Poetry Editor for the literary translation press, Open Letter Books, and teaches courses in writing, literature, and gender studies at the Rochester Institute of Technology and at St. John Fisher College. For more information, find her online at www.anastasianikolis.com and on Twitter @nikolisanastasi.

Workshops are conducted EST via Zoom, a virtual platform that allows you to participate in exercises and contribute to group conversation. To participate, please register by the deadline using the ticket portal below, or go to Scholarships. Zoom links are emailed to registered participants.

Scholarships Available