Learning from the Female Poets: Influence & Inspiration
Join the great poetic conversation and think about how to steal, allude, translate, remix, modernise, and answer back.
Taking Clare’s new collection Lives of the Female Poets as a starting point, this course will draw on historical texts by female-identifying poets, from the first poet Enheduanna to Ancient Greek writers who exist only in fragments. Virginia Woolf asked: ‘Who shall measure the heat and violence of a poet’s heart when caught and tangled in a woman’s body?’ and we shall look at some of the ways female writers struggled and rebelled. Reading poems by figures such as L.E.L, Charlotte Mew, Anne Sexton, Forugh Farrokhzad, Rosemary Tonks and Wanda Coleman, we shall think about how we can celebrate and build upon their work.
Every session there will be prompts and exercises inspired by these poets, whether writing biographical pen-portraits, versioning, creating poems ‘after’, or using forms that incorporate existing texts such as the golden shovel, the blackout, the cento and the glosa.
This ten-week asynchronous course is perfect for writers who want to expand their personal canon, take inspiration from writers who have come before you, and gain the confidence to stand on the shoulders of giants. Participants will come away with a group of new and workshopped poems, and some new favourite poets.
5 fortnightly sessions over 10 weeks, starting 8 May 2025. No live chats. Suitable for UK & International students.
Concessions & Accessibility
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: @sparkle
About Clare Pollard 
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Clare Pollard has published five collections of poetry with Bloodaxe, most recently Incarnation. Her poem ‘Pollen’ was nominated for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem 2022. She has been involved in numerous translation projects – including translating Ovid’s Heroines, which she toured as a one-woman show – and was editor of Modern Poetry in Translation for five years. Her most recent books are the children’s novel The Untameables and the adult novel The Modern Fairies. She is currently artistic director of the Winchester Poetry Festival, and her next collection Lives of the Female Poets will be published by Bloodaxe in September 2025.).
"The Poetry School courses I have taken part in over the years have extended my knowledge about a whole range of subjects. They have also introduced me to poets and thinkers whom I hadn't come across before."
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