LLA0024 - Poetry Workshop
Course Description
This workshop is a supportive place for beginning poets and those curious to write poetry for the first time to sharpen their craft and receive feedback on their writing. Throughout the course, you will write poems and discuss what makes them come to life, from image to sound and rhythm to arrangement on the page. You will write new poems, hone your skills at revision, and learn from a mix of contemporary writers and writers from other eras. Finally, you will learn how to submit your work and about the process of getting poems published.
Course Outline
Week 1: Shakespeare, Donne, Dr. Seuss, Rhythm, Meter, and Rhyme Scheme.
An introduction to the basics of constructing rhythmic phrases by working through some of the works of the more classic poets. Shakespeare and Donne provide a basic groundwork for understanding poetic meter. Seuss is excellent at helping people understand syllabic emphasis.
Week 2: Nontraditional/Non-Western Poetry, Prose, Nonsense Poems.
Nonsense poetry, wordplay, and gibberish. The Jabberwocky is a famous example of how words can essentially just be invented on the spot to serve a rhythmic purpose while also communicating meaning effectively. Flanagan provides some examples of wordplay that may not be quite as effective!
Week 3: Music as Poetry
Whether it’s Rock, Pop, Hip-hop, Country, or Rap, music follows similar rules to poetry and it’s a fun break to try to look at something that you think you know pretty well from a different angle. We don’t have to write our own song lyrics, but I’d encourage you to think up a few songs with lyrics that really strike home.
Week 4: Workshop Day
Our last day together! We’ll go over every previous workshop piece that we haven’t had time to go over as well as any particular pieces you’ve been sitting on that you want an additional pair of eyes on.
Shyretha “Shy” Brown, is a biochemist specializing in biochemistry, immunology, and exercise science research. She received a BS from Jackson State University and both MS and PhD from Tennessee State University. Shy has authored scientific publications, featured on PBS NOVA, and invited for several talks and presentations about science and her career path. Aside from science and research, she is also the founder and president of Building Bridges, Inc., a non-profit organization designed to expose, equip, and empower young Black girls to pursue STEM through self-awareness strategies. In her free time, Shy enjoys creative writing and expresses her creative thinking through poetry and short stories. Shy's book, "The Awakening", is a compilation of her poems that relates to changing seasons regarding love, trauma, loss, identity, and healing. It can be read in two directions, front to back (light to darkness) or back to front (darkness to light). The awakening occurs on the middle page when light and darkness collide.