Creative Writing: Poetry

This is a great course that will help your high school student be a better writer and have a greater appreciation for beautiful poetry, as well as lift his or her heart up to God.

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Poetry Writing I: Joining the Great Tradition

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Note: Only 20 students accepted in this course.

Class dates: Mondays, January 5 to April 20, 2015. No class Feb. 16 or April 5.

Total classes: 14

Starting time: 1:00 pm Eastern (Noon Central; 11:00 Mountain; 10:00 Pacific)

Duration: 1 hour

Prerequisite: None

Suggested grade level: 9^th to 12^th grade

Suggested high school credit: 1 full semester Poetry or Literature/ Creative Writing

Fee:  $210 for all 14 classes.

Instructor: Sally Thomas

Course description: An introduction to the craft of poetry writing, including examination of traditional English verse forms and free verse, and experimentation with rhetorical techniques. Though this is a writing-intensive class, students will also be immersed in the reading of poetry. Through their experiences in examining how poems work and putting their observations into practice, students will prepare themselves for the challenge of college by developing heightened sensitivity as close readers and a greater command of rhetoric in their own writing, whether poetry or prose.

Course outline:

Class 1: Introduction

Class 2: Verse Systems

Class 3: Accentual Meters

Class 4: Syllabic Verse

Class 5: Forms in Free Verse

Class 6: Ode Forms

Class 7: Quantitative Verse

Class 8: Repetitive Structures

Class 9: Comical Schemes

Class 10: Rhetorical Schemes

Class 11: Variation and Mimesis

Class 12: More About Rhyming

Class 13: Uncommon Schemes

Class 14: Poetry Festival

Course materials: Rhyme’sReason, John Hollander.

Homework: At least one chapter in Hollander each week, plus additional poetry readings, provided by the instructor. One poetry-writing exercise per week.