‘Inbreath’ of Poetry: Masterclass
Inhale and exhale as we explore poetry that challenges, surprises, and catches our breath, and write of breath’s force and beauty.
‘My breath got lost in the post. I sent
a box of it out, portioned in six
foil bags like space food rations’ – Polly Atkin
This Masterclass brings together body, breath, matter, and word to articulate the living, the dead, the materiality of language, and humanity. We will ask of the poem, how it shapes experiences, how it responds to what lives and breathes insides us, how it articulates and re-imagines ‘breathing.’ We will engage with the image of breath from various perspectives: breath as breath, breath in the poetic line, in illness, love, transcendence, song, sound, and voice.
By exploring the power, fragility, and liminality of breath, alongside its measure, pace, and also its longevity, we will create our own ‘projective verse’. We will engage ‘in-breath’ as it inhales and exhales the physical and the non-physical movements of body and mind, examine it closely as we listen to it, as it appears to us. From Cole Swenson, Reginald Shepherd, Harryette Mullen, and others, we will explore poetry that challenges, surprises, and catches our breath, as we write of its force and beauty.
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 10 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.
To apply for a concessionary 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]. For more information visit our Online Courses page.
Image credit: Robert Katzki
About Agnieszka Studzinska 
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Agnieszka Studzińska has an MA in Creative Writing from the UEA. Her debut collection, Snow Calling, was shortlisted for the London New Poetry Award 2010. Her second collection, What Things Are, is published by Eyewear (2014) and her third, Branches of a House (2021) by Shearsman. She has had poems published in Long Poem Magazine, Wild Court, Agenda, and Mslexia, as well as having poems featured in several anthologies. She is currently working towards her PhD at Royal Holloway London, exploring how the image of the house is appropriated in contemporary poetry. She teaches creative writing and lives in London.
'The Poetry School is an inspiring community for developing one's poetry and connecting with like minded people. It changed my life - I wouldn't be without it.'
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