Hoax Poetics: A Fakery Masterclass
Respond to poetry pranks throughout history.
While our tech-dependent age is – even as we speak – busily producing rafts of cultural fakery, hoax content is by no means exclusive to the A.I era. Nor is poetry exempt from its reach.
From the doomed youth who was able to pass off his poems as that of a 15th century monk, to the conservative writers who hoodwinked the exponents of modernist verse (and accidentally created modernist work of enduring merit in the process). From truly uncomfortable acts of cultural appropriation to an entire poetic movement born out of righteously pranking the internet scammers, this twelve-week course will explore both the ethics and the creative possibilities of the hoax poem across history.
We’ll be beginning with James MacPherson (aka the Irish bard Ossian) and Thomas Chatterton (aka the monk Rowley) and work our way through a history of fakery and falsehoods before ending up in the weird and wonderful world of flarf.
Does the hoax poem have anything to teach us? Join us as we respond to the work of historical hoaxers through a series of strange and ambitious poetic prompts in an attempt to find out! Be ready to laugh, cringe, confabulate, and play.
Masterclasses are an expanded version of our International Courses, with a much deeper consideration of technical craft and critical theory. These 12-week courses (maximum 12 places) are for advanced students only, and fluency with poetic language and ideas will be assumed. There are no live chats and they are suitable for UK and 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: @lilartsy
About Dr Fran Lock 
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Fran Lock is the author of fourteen poetry collections including Hyena! (Poetry Bus Press, 2023), shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize 2023 and the PEN Heaney Prize 2024, ‘a disgusting lie’ (further adventures through the neo-liberal hell mouth), (Pamenar Press 2023), and Specters/ Defectors// No Respecters (Culture Matters, 2024). A collection of lyric essays exploring feral subjectivity through the lens of the medieval bestiary was published by Out-Spoken Press late last year. Fran was the Judith E. Wilson Poetry Fellow at Cambridge University, 2022-2023, and a member of the New Editorial Advisory Board for the Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry. Fran is a Commissioning Editor at the radical arts and culture cooperative, Culture Matters, and she co-edits the Soul Food column for Communist Review together with Nick Moss. Fran lives in Kent with Luna Moona Petrescu, her sassy American bully.
"It has been great to get feedback on my writing. It lets me know when I am on the right track and gives me confidence."
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