Degenerate Art: Transreading Paul Klee

Expand your ekphrasis as we Transread Paul Klee's 'degenerate art' art into innovative new poems.

Paul Klee was a poet, a musician and, above all, one of the great modern visual artists. His range as an artist is extraordinary. He created satirical sketches, childlike doodles, geometrical stacks relating to colour theory, as well as luminous evocations of the mysterious. His limitless capacity for play and enquiry make him a particularly potent source of inspiration for poets.

On this course we will respond to poems and pictures by Klee, attempting to understand his practices more fully whilst also expanding and deepening our own. Klee reminds us that we are free to respond to our impulses without self-censorship; that we can incorporate everyday subjects and materials into grander schemes; that we can celebrate intuitions of the visionary and numinous in non-denominational and playful ways. Join us to produce and explore a world of colourful and formally-innovative poetry!

5 fortnightly sessions over 10 weeks, starting 2 October 2025. No live chats. Suitable for UK & International students.

Concessions & Accessibility

To apply for a concession rate, please send relevant documentation showing your eligibility for one of our concessions to [email protected]. Conditions of eligibility are detailed here. If you have any questions or wish to be added to the waiting list of a sold-out course, please email [email protected].

What to Expect

Please check the left hand side of this page for information on how this course works in practice, under the heading ‘Course Style‘. If you’re unsure as to what any of the terms there mean, or if this course is a good fit for you, please visit our What to Expect page which includes some further information on how our courses function.

Image credit: @steve

About Peter Hughes View Profile

Peter Hughes is a poet and the founding editor of Oystercatcher Press, now based in Spello, Italy. In 2016 he was the Judith E. Wilson Visiting Fellow in Poetry at the University of Cambridge. His many books include a Selected Poems (Shearsman, 2013), innovative versions of all Petrarch’s sonnets Quite Frankly (Reality Street Editions, 2015), Cavalcanty (Carcanet, 2017), Arrangements (with Eléna Rivera, Aquifer, 2022), The Modulus of Rupture (Shearsman, 2023), Lent (Equipage, 2024), Jack Lentini & the Pirate Queen (NF&S, 2024), and Drawn (Broken Sleep, 2025).

"The breadth and rigour of all the courses I've attended has been the basis of my development to the point that I am now able to get poem published."

- Spring 2025 Survey Response

The Poetry School