The Drunken Boat – Transreading Rimbaud: A Masterclass
Take inspiration from the enfant terrible of Surrealism and the master of symbolist writing.
Enter the vivid, dark and mesmerising world of Rimbaud, and explore his astonishingly unique landscape – at once brutal and beautiful – while creating your own poetry in response to some of his major works. Each session will focus on one or two key poems, taking them as starting points in our own individual creative process.
During the course, we will delve into Rimbaud’s early masterpiece, The Drunken Boat, visit some of his most visually striking prose poems from his ground-breaking Illuminations, take a hell of a journey in the surreal and intensely private A Season in Hell, and read a few of Rimbaud’s letters to family and friends, in which he discusses every subject and incident with heightened emotions, whether these are private matters or the aesthetics and practice of poetry writing.
The students will have access to the original texts in French and English translations. No previous knowledge of French is needed, although participants will be able to compare different translations in English, and experiment with creating their own variations of translations if they wish.
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: @europeana
About Stav Poleg 
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Stav Poleg‘s debut poetry collection, The City (Carcanet, 2022) was chosen for the Financial Times’ Best Summer Books 2022, and was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Poetry Prize for a First Collection, 2023. Her second poetry collection, The Banquet, is forthcoming from Carcanet in Autumn 2025. Her poetry has appeared on both sides of the Atlantic, in The New Yorker, Kenyon Review, Poetry Daily, Poetry London, Poetry Ireland Review, PN Review and elsewhere. A selection of her work is featured in New Poetries VIII (Carcanet, 2021). Her graphic-novel installation, ‘Dear Penelope: Variations on an August Morning’, created with artist Laura Gressani, was acquired by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Her theatre work was read at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, and the Shunt Vaults, London, and most recently at Kettle’s Yard gallery, Cambridge. She serves on the editorial board of Magma Poetry magazine.
"The courses ensure I prioritise my writing - without them I let my practice slip."
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