Minor Keys: A Mundanity Masterclass

Minor Keys: A Mundanity Masterclass

Richness in the routine – extraordinary poetry from the everyday.

A Harvard Business School study by organisational behaviour expert Ting Zhang in 2014 found that most people severely undervalue their ordinary daily lived experiences. We tend to construct the stories of our lives around major events, good or bad, and seek to find meaning around them. Similarly, poetry is often a vehicle for grandeur, for stature, for the major registers of history and its triumphs and traumas. But poems can also elevate the mundane in ways that find meaning and wonder in the routine events of everyday life. In this course, we will excerpt aspects of our daily lives, our jobs, routines, and families to use poems to rediscover wonder, to be amazed at the ordinary.

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: @eprouzet

About Richard Georges View Profile

Richard Georges is a writer of essays, fiction, and three collections of poetry. He is a Fellow of the Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Study and Virgin Islands Poet Laureate. He has been previously shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and his most recent work, Epiphaneia (OutSpoken), won the 2020 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. Richard works in higher education and lives on Tortola with his wife and children.

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