Poetic Theft: From Inspiration to Transformation
A transformative workshop series about harnessing your inspirations to expand your writing.
Is there anything truly original anymore? Certainly, it’s important to have an authentic voice, but creating authentically in a world of existing ideas poses challenges. Perhaps, if we were more transparent about our inspirations we might, instead, see poetry as a process of its own beautiful metamorphism – a clever practice to expand the limitations of our own worlds and make better work. In the words of T.S. Eliot: ‘immature poets imitate; mature poets steal’.
In this short course, we’ll learn how to transform your inspirations and experiences into exciting new work. First, we’ll look at personal transformation and how we might borrow from life, delving into real world examples and our personal voice for poetry. Then we’ll look at some famous storytelling examples, including novels and poems. We will explore a range of writers from different periods of literature with authors such as Albert Camus, Mary Shelly, the Bronte sisters, Margaret Atwood, Lawerence Ferlinghetti and a few more.
At the end, the goal is to have poems that explore something familiar, shaped around our own poetic agendas. The course is for anyone who’s ever felt inspired by other artists and wants to reference, expand their practice, and write using examples. The approach will be focused on theme and voice, as opposed to structure and technicality.
5 fortnightly Zoom sessions on Thursdays, 7–9pm (BST), starts 6 June 2024.
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, wish to be added to the waiting list of a sold-out course, or require any form of adjustment to access our courses, please email [email protected]. For more information visit our In Person Courses page.
Image credit: @susan_wilkinson
About Louis Glazzard 
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Louis Glazzard was born in Yorkshire, England. His poems have been published nationally by magazines including Untitled Voices, Queerlings, Polari Press and more, and his work has broadcasted on BBC Arts and BBC Radio 6.
Louis released his debut poetry collection Human Men in 2021 and he runs writing workshops for new and emerging writers. He was recently Writer in residence for Melbourne City of Literature and Geelong Regional Libraries.
He is currently working on his debut novel with Andrew James at Frog Literary and runs the Coffee and Poems club in Manchester.
"I love everything about The Poetry School – the quality of offerings, the caliber of tutors, the generosity and kindness of the other poets participating."
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