Poetry Correspondence Course

Poetry Correspondence Course

The poetry correspondence course I've been promising for years was finally ready to go the year before last. The full fee is £395 (payable in two instalments) for six months' intensive study with me: this includes course material, exercises, detailed personal feedback, an overview with personal recommendations at the end of the course, and a complimentary copy of my pamphlet 'What I Want from a Poem'. (Please note that for reasons of time the fee does not include my reading of extra poems outside of the work for the assignments.)

NB The course will be suited to people with some experience of poetry; it is NOT suitable for beginners. It's intensive, and each module will also include mandatory and recommended reading and constructive exploration of others' poems.

As always, students can work by post or email (Word doc). (Please let me know when signing up whether you prefer working by email or Royal Mail.)

The next course starting date is January 2012. Applications from November 2011.

ELEMENTS OF POETRY
This correspondence course is an approach to writing poetry rooted in the fertile soil of the language of heart, soul & mind combined. It also assumes that poetry is a crucial human art.
   Poetry feeds a hunger; the need, as Clayton Eshleman said, ‘for a more profound and ensouled world’. It’s a way of offsetting what Robert Bly describes as the ‘language of the advertising agency’.
   While it’s an approach that favours the holistic, I’d like to think however that authenticity of voice, knowledge of the requirements of poetry & of the poetry world, & mastery of technique are given equal attention. I’m keen that literary quality is not sacrificed to the demand that poetry be also a means of connection, & a vibrant & essential aspect of inner work.

A poem in its way is a small self-contained unit of mystery that, as we approach, might just give us a high-voltage jolt to the heart. A poem can enlarge our experience; if it reveals something to us we are nourished by it, even if we don’t entirely understand it, even if the subject matter of the poem is strange, or sad, or difficult.

‘...this deeply instinctual yet self-conscious expressive language, this regenerative process, could help you save your life... Art is our human birthright, our most powerful means of access to our own and another's experience and imaginative life.’
Adrienne Rich

‘It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.’
William Carlos Williams

    ‘Poetry is that
which arrives at the intellect
by way of the heart.’
R S Thomas

If these words have resonance for you, my approach might suit you.

Course content

Components of each module: reading, exploration/assessment of poems read, written assignments, including to create one or more poem/s, reflective component.

Introduction

Module 1
What is poetry?
Making a poem
Poems to read
Assignments, reading & reflection

Module 2
The tools 1
Visual language – fundamental techniques
Poems to read
Assignments, reading & reflection

Module 3
The tools 2
Verbal music – rhythm, rhyme, pattern
Poems to read
Assignments, reading & reflection

Module 4
The traditional & the contemporary
Formal vs free verse
Poems to read
Assignments, reading & reflection

Module 5
Drafting, editing, redrafting
Poems to read
Assignments, reading & reflection

Module 6
Last words: (suggestions for this month’s work & for the future; publishing advice if appropriate; assessment of new/redrafted work; overview)
Body of poems/project to send in
Assignments, reading & reflection x2
Essay or review

NB: I reserve the right to change or modify course content as necessary

Practical details
With your acceptance letter I also send the Introduction & two modules. You will need to send me the assignments from module 1 by the end of the following month, & I will respond by the end of the next month; and so on. Towards the end of the course, I will send you: ‘What I Want From a Poem’ (poetry pamphlet). I also send you an overview of your work with recommendations for continuing. I am considering an optional 7th module that looks at haiku, as I believe that this approach to poetry can benefit our Western addiction to over-writing (not included in the 6-module fee).

Enrolments are accepted until 20th January 2011, with the first modules being sent out at the end of each of the month. You will be returning the first assignment to me by the end of February. I work with small groups only on each 6-month course.
I am inviting submissions from people who would like to work with me in this way, & are willing to commit themselves to completing a module a month with its associated coursework, required reading, & writing. Once a year I will be offering a residential weekend as an optional extra (this is not included in the course fee).

What you can expect

An immersion in the experience of poetry, through training the eye and ear, through reading, and through writing
The encouragement and refining of personal creative expression
The development or progression of individual voice
An increasing confidence and assuredness in your writing
An enhanced recognition of what makes a ‘good’ poem
An ability to more usefully assess and refine your own work
A greater understanding of what poetry is, what its requirements are, and what it has to offer
A wider and deeper understanding of the poetic canon, of its range, and of the continuing importance of poetry

Before you sign up:
This course will suit both intermediate writers who are already committed to and involved in the poetry ‘scene’ & poetry writing & reading, as well as experienced writers who need a ‘top-up’ of inspiration, some brushing-up of their skills, or the discipline of a monthly deadline, & feedback.
   If you don’t read contemporary poetry, this course will not be the one for you. If you are a novice, please don’t be offended if I reject your application & ask you to read (more) contemporary poetry before reapplying. This is a very intensive course & it's recommended that you complete a course in poetry basics first with another institution.
   You need to be clear that you need to be passionate about poetry & willing to immerse yourself in it. You will be asked to borrow or buy Bloodaxe’s Staying Alive anthology on acceptance onto the course, as you will need to refer to poems in it throughout the course. Please also find EITHER Poetry with an Edge OR The Rag & Bone Shop of the Heart. You will also find it invaluable to read Ruth Padel: 52 Ways of Looking at a Poem; & Strong Words: modern poets on modern poetry, if you haven’t already.
   This course asks of you commitment to ‘staying the course’ & to regularly making time to complete the assignments & send them in on the agreed dates. Not for the faint-hearted! If you are in the middle of moving, divorcing, changing jobs, or have a fulltime job & family, experience suggests leaving this till another time!
   Within each assignment I shall also ask you for a reflective ‘report’ on the process of working through each module, with a view to your illuminating for yourself your relationship to your own creative processes. At the end of the course, I will ask for an overall reflection, plus a review/essay.

To apply, please send:

a covering letter explaining why you want to take this course & what you would like to achieve by working through it
three sample poems (applicants are selected on the basis of the above two pieces of writing)
the first instalment of the fee (£200, with the balance of £195 payable on return of your 3rd assignment): please email me (roselle[at]fire-in-the-head.co.uk) for address. If for any reason I need to return your application this will be refunded.

THE SMALL PRINT: Please note that no refunds are made once I have responded to your first assignment. If for any reason you decide, on receipt of the Introduction and the first two modules, that the course is not for you, I will refund your deposit minus a £50 admin fee provided you return all the course materials within a fortnight of their receipt.

FEEDBACK
I have had extraordinarily positive feedback consistently on this course. I haven't had time to post the many many things people have said – I will get round to it at some stage. Here's a snippet or two, for now:

'I can't begin to tell you how affirming this course is for me. One reason I realise why I am glad not to hurry – this is a kind of therapy, recovery period for me. I don't want it to end too quickly. I get your response and guard it, afraid to open it like an exam result or thinking it might be a toad or an eyeball. Instead it's a piece of sky, a thrush's egg!'

'I am learning to trust myself again, to trust my poet. Thanks so much for everything. I love the course!'

'Thank you for everything, for your skill, your honesty, your integrity, for sharing your gift and for your patience. What an incredible period it has been!'