Advanced MFA Poetry Wksp

Catalog description

In this series of classes, students will be working with received forms (e.g. sonnet, villanelle, sestina). There will be a strong reading component with work by both classical and contemporary poets who wrote using poetic forms; students will be encouraged to write in response to, and sometimes in imitation of, the poems they read as a way to enrich their understanding of meter and rhyme. Prompts may be specific as to subject matter and form, or may merely tell students which form to use. Writing in received forms helps lay the groundwork for learning the art and science of poetic practices; adding the reading component allows students to experience some of the ways in which poetry is a dialogue between poets both past and present. While there may be a small reading component to this workshop series, most of each class will be spent workshopping student poetry. The focus here will be on beginning to prepare the thesis (a chapbook-length manuscript), and students may work on both poems from previous workshops and new ones. In addition to workshop sessions, there will be a number of meetings dedicated to discussing publishing procedures and opportunities. Instructors are encouraged to bring in editors and publishers who can speak directly to industry practices. By the end of this workshop, students should have a minimum of 15 poems they believe will be the basis for their thesis.