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October 4, 2018
$315 | 8 Weeks
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In this course, students will continue to hone their poetic craft while focusing on creating a chapbook, or short poetry collection. Chapbooks are frequently the first single-author volumes published by poets, a bridge between writing individual poems and writing a full-length book. Chapbooks are structured in the same way as full-length books, but typically range from 15 to 25 pages in length. As such, the techniques studied in this course also apply to building a full-length collection.
This course presupposes the level of familiarity with poetic craft that students gain in my introductory course, “Machines Made out of Words: An Introduction to the Craft of Poetry” or from other introductory classes. For new poets, I recommend starting with the Intro course.
This course features more open-ended writing assignments than an intro class, more focus on ongoing revision, and the goal-oriented project of creating and polishing a chapbook. In addition to taking a deeper dive into the craft of individual poems and reading a wide selection of classic and contemporary poets, students in this class will also work on the relationship between poems within a collection, pacing and structure across the volume, etc.
By the end of this eight-week course, students will have drafted 6-7 new poems and combined them with previously-written poems (e.g., the poems written during the Intro course and/or poems students have written on their own) to create a complete chapbook. The course also includes bonus material on best practices for submitting chapbooks for publication.
Syllabus
| Course Sessions | Assignments | |
| 1. | Seven-Eighths of the Iceberg: Poetry and Revision | · Write 1-2 new poem(s); workshop |
| 2. | Influence & Imitation: Learning from Others and Making It New | · Write 1 new poem; workshop
· Optional: Revise previous poem(s); workshop |
| 3. | Grammar for Poets, or, The Nuts and Bolts That Hold A Poem Together | · Write 1 new poem; workshop
· Revise previous poem(s); workshop |
| 4. | Reading a Collection I: Putting Poems Together | · Choose a collection from the list of recommended books; read the collection and write a 500ish-word analysis of how the poems are ordered across the volume.
· Optional: Revise previous poem(s); workshop |
| 5. | Short Poems, Long Poems: Pacing in Poetry | · Write 1 new poem; workshop
· Revise previous poem(s); workshop |
| 6. | The Art of Allusions: Poetry as Dialogue | · Write 1 new poem; workshop
· Optional: Revise previous poem(s); workshop |
| 7. | The Poet as Critic: Reading Others, Reading Yourself | · Write 1 new poem; workshop
· Optional: Revise previous poem(s); workshop |
| 8. | Reading a Collection II: Voice, Style, Unity | · Choose a collection from the list of recommended books; read the collection and write a 500ish-word analysis of how the poems come together (or fail to come together) as a whole.
· Complete your chapbook; chapbook workshop |
| * | Bonus Content: Submitting Your Collection | |
Student Comments
This was the best class I've taken! Jonathan gave us detailed lessons, packed with useful information. He gave us assignments designed to increase our understanding and they did...Jonathan was generous with his feedback, pointing out both the strengths of our work and opportunities to strengthen it. He always explained why something wasn't working or could be improved and gave examples of how. His suggestions really helped me to see how I could improve, not just that particular poem, but others as well. He was encouraging as well as constructive. He was excellent in every regard. Just want to thank you for this great learning experience. Barbara Ireland
Jonathan was an amazing teacher. The level of critique he offered was way beyond what I thought I’d get in an online course. He was a close and careful reader and his comments on our work were sensitive and insightful. GREAT lectures, clear, concise but in depth, with fantastic poetic examples. Yes, very happy. Chloe Coventry
This course has been fabulous: each week a great lecture with a twist, splendid sample of poems from known and less known poets, supportive and constructive tutorial feedback, phenomenal language. I'm still savoring the course contents.I appreciate your sense of humor, too ;). I've loved every minute spent here. I'm definitely taking part two of this course (or its sequel). In the meantime, I'll read your poems (I wish you'd shared more of them during the course). Looking forward to writing with Writers.com again. Joanna Kania
I find you guys run great classes and this was no exception! I felt Jonathan was very thoughtful in setting up the material. He was engaged, thorough, and responded in a timely fashion. Andrea Sauder
Lovely! Very well structured and fascinating course. Very! Felt that [Jonathan] knew his stuff and felt safe with the commentary. Maren Bodenstein