Poetry Workshop
10 weekly sessions on campus on Wednesdays 11am - 1pm, from Wednesday 7 October.
Overview
Would you like to write more poetry and submit work for publication? Are you working on a small poetry project that could benefit from help and feedback from a small group of peers? If so, this course is for you. It’s also for you if you want to improve your writing and start to share your poems with other people. You will have the opportunity to start writing with more confidence and share your own work in a supportive and encouraging environment.
You will get the chance to share your ideas and work with others and perhaps find some new directions and motivation for your writing. The course aims to develop an understanding of the essential elements of poetry and improve your reading and writing skills in poetry.
To gain confidence in sharing original work and learn how to critique the work of others in a constructive way. To develop experience of redrafting and editing work in response to feedback. Students need to have a commitment to writing between sessions and sharing work with their peers. This course will appeal to shy poets who have never shared their work before or to those getting started with submissions who need encouragement and motivation. The only requirement is that you have an interest in learning more about your own poetry.
Syllabus
Week 1: Wed 7 October 11am – 1pm: Ways of working? We will consider how we will work together and constructive ways of sharing ideas and offering feedback. We will practise how to model this approach through a workshop discussion of a published poem.
Week 2: Wed 14 October 11am – 1pm: Figurative language: students will bring along their own poems for discussion and critique, and we will look particularly at their approaches to simile and metaphor.
Week 3: Wed 21 October 11am – 1pm: Poems about Life: students will bring along a poem to read and share. We will offer constructive feedback on all writing shared with suggestions for improvement as well as encouragement about the best elements of writing.
Week 4: Wed 28 October 11am – 1pm: Poetic line: We will look closely at the ways in which students approach lineation. Participants will bring along a poem to read and share. We will offer constructive feedback on all writing shared with suggestions for improvement as well as encouragement about the best elements of writing.
Week 5: Wed 4 November 11am – 1pm: Poetry workshop: Participants will bring along a poem to read and share. We will offer constructive feedback on all writing shared with suggestions for improvement as well as encouragement about the best elements of writing. We will spend part of this workshop discussing ekphrastic poetry and students will be given a reading list about poems inspired by art.
Week 6: Wed 11 November 11am – 1pm: Poetry workshop: Participants will bring along a poem to read and share. We will offer constructive feedback on all writing shared with suggestions for improvement as well as encouragement about the best elements of writing.
Week 7: Wed 18 November 11am – 1pm: Poetry workshop: Participants will bring along a poem to read and share. We will offer constructive feedback on all writing shared with suggestions for improvement as well as encouragement about the best elements of writing. We will look at how students are using space and stanzas in their poems.
Week 8: Wed 25 November 11am – 1pm: Poetry workshop: Participants will bring along a poem to read and share. We will offer constructive feedback on all writing shared with suggestions for improvement as well as encouragement about the best elements of writing. We will look at student work inspired by art.
Week 9: Wed 2 December 11am – 1pm: Poetry workshop: Participants will bring along a poem to read and share. We will offer constructive feedback on all writing shared with suggestions for improvement as well as encouragement about the best elements of writing. We will focus on approaches to titles.
Week 10: Wed 9 December 11am – 1pm: In the final workshop we will review writing progress, approaches and confidence and ways to find the best magazines and journals for submissions.
Course lecturer
Dr Pauline Rowe was awarded her PhD in 2019 and has taught at the University of Liverpool and the University of Edge Hill. She was Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Chester (2022 – 2024). Pauline has worked in community and health settings for over 20 years encouraging and supporting people to explore their creative skills, especially through reading and writing poetry. She was the founder of North End Writers and ran the charity from 2006 to 2020. She was also the first Poet-in-Residence with Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust (2013 – 2020) and the first Writer-in-Residence with Open Eye Gallery (2016 – 2019).
Pauline has 9 poetry publications and her pamphlet The Weight of Snow (Maytree Press, 2021) won a Saboteur award. She is currently Writer-in-Residence for the People of Anfield project, originally commissioned by Culture Liverpool and supported by Open Eye Gallery.
Course fee
- Standard fee: £165
- Concession fee: £85