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Poetics

Glennis Hobbs

Poetry Comes Of Age At Writers’ Village University

Are you a would-be poet who is anxiously looking for poetry courses to get you started writing poetry? Are you an experienced poet who is suffering from writer’s block and looking for some ideas to jolt you? Perhaps you are just looking for some ways to improve your poetic skills. Perhaps you don’t have a lot of time to commit to a lengthy course. Look no farther than the halls of Writers Village University. A year ago there were only two poetry courses being offered. Now there are over fifty courses being presented. The average length of most of these courses is 2.6 weeks.

Poetry courses come in a wide variety of ranges to suit the needs of poets of all abilities, from novice to advanced. The courses come in both facilitated and unfacilitated versions. Unfacilitated courses are based on peer feedback. Facilitated courses are guided by a facilitator who answers questions about the lessons, how to post, etc. Facilitated courses are assigned an even number and unfacilitated courses are assigned an odd number.

For beginners WVU offers Poetry 100: Rhythmic Words, A Beginner's Guide to Poetic Forms. Beginners can further their abilities with P111 and P113: Introduction to Poetry Parts I and II.

Poets who have taken these beginning courses or poetry courses elsewhere may wish to check into some intermediate level courses. Poetry 115: Japanese Poetic offers instruction in writing haiku, tanka, renga, haibun, and senyru. Poetry 126/127: Freeing the Poet and Poetry 128/129: Working With the Muse is designed to help poets find inspiration through a variety of poetry exercises and prompts.

For the poet who is interested in reading and discussing poetry there is Poetry 124/125: The Pleasures of Reading Poetry. This course is designed for the poet who wants to understand poetry better, whether it's for his/her reading pleasure or to increase his/her skills as a poet.

There are also opportunities for advanced poets. P117 Advanced Poetry, Free Form Part 1, P119 Advanced Poetry-Free Form Part 2, and P121 Advanced Poetry, Free Form Part 3 is a 30-week course offered in three 10-week parts. This course is designed for those who have been writing poetry for a while and want tough feedback. It is an ambitious course for intermediate and advanced poets who want to hone their craft through a series of challenging writing exercises, real critique, and rewriting.

In addition, there is also a Senior Poets Workshop (P123). P123 is a small group of experienced poets who "hone their skills as advanced poets, study recognized poets, discuss matters of joint interest, practice prosody, expand their knowledge of poetic forms, participate in the development of group exercises and course facilitation." They frequently meet to discuss poetry in weekly online chats. These poets are willing and eager to share their poetry knowledge. To be admitted to this workshop, poets are required to submit a poetry explication plus copies of three different form poems. Membership in this group requires a serious commitment to hard work.

For the poet who would like to post some poems just to get feedback, there is a study group called Word Weavers

Perhaps you don’t have a lot of time to commit to a lengthy course. Now a new feature that has just been added to the courses at WVU is a series of poetry triggers. These are one-week poetry courses on various poetic features designed not only to inspire poets to write but also opportunities for poets to learn the poetic crafts, such as alliteration, metaphors, personification. The poetry triggers were developed by the members of P123: The Senior Poets Workshop at the request of the Educational Co-ordinator. P123 is a small group of experienced poets who "hone their skills as advanced poets, study recognized poets, discuss matters of joint interest, practice prosody, expand their knowledge of poetic forms, participate in the development of group exercises and course facilitation." They frequently meet to discuss poetry in weekly online chats. These poets are willing and eager to share their poetry knowledge.

If you are looking for ideas on getting started, you might check out
P164: Using Webbing or Clustering,
P172: Using Music as an Inspiration to Write Poetry;
P178: Using your Sense of Smell; or
P200: The Poet as Observer.

Perhaps you want to hone your poetic skills, check out
P154: Mastering Alliteration;

P156: Personification;
P182: Imagism
P140: Creating Poetry From Metaphors.

For some fun ones, try P190: A Library of Poems or What's in the Closet?

A full list of courses can be found here. The poetry triggers started on December 26th with Poetry 130 ­The Minute. Different courses will be offered every two weeks. These courses will be unfacilitated.

Course developers were Carol Malley, Arlene Lawson, Glennis Hobbs, Korie Beth Brown, Joyce Heon, Linda Austin, Gwen Austin Turbeyfield, Rolly delos Santos, Molly Critchlow, Nancy Conner, Tom Spencer and Ed Rosenthal. Others who have helped to develop courses have been Bob Hembree, D. C. Kidd, H. C. Hobbs and Karli Shanklin.

For those who are members of Writers Village University, these courses are included as part of their membership. If you’re a writer or would-be writer and are looking for a community of writers, then WVU is just the place for you. Check out this site for Membership Information.