Groups

Christopher Logue, Alice Oswald, Michael Longley and Derek Mahon have all written brilliant adaptations of Homer, from the cinematic drama and violence of Logue’s War Music to the majestic sweep and poignancy of Oswald’s Memorial and the compact lyrics of Longley and Mahon. We will examine and discuss their very different approaches and draw inspiration for our own new poems from them. No previous knowledge of Homer required.

A series of five writing workshops over two weeks, experimenting with ways to dramatise the imaginative worlds of your poems using composition tricks held in common with drama and scriptwriting. Looking at the power of scene and setting, the dynamics of characterised voice and spot-dialogue, as well as suspense and tension, each workshop will consist of exercises to produce draft new poems for revision and development in your own time.

A group for the poets involved with the South Bank Centre’s Pull Out All The Stops project …

This is a Campus group associated with Pascale Petit’s Advanced Poetry Workshop, a place for course members to share work, resources and conversation.

Course description: For poets writing at an advanced level, an in-depth feedback workshop of your poems in progress and discussion of the direction and development of your work. There won’t be writing exercises, but each session will be kicked off with reading published poetry to spark off new ideas, and to keep your poetic discipline focused over the year.

This is a Campus group associated with Mimi Khalvati’s Versification course, a place for course members to share work, resources and conversation.

Course description:If you have been practising poetry with confidence for some time, this course will help you address some of the more formal challenges of both metrical and free verse in depth and in detail. You will explore the relationship of form and content; metre, rhyme and syntax; stanzaic and fixed forms; lineation and stylistic choices in free verse.

A private group for members of Tamar Yoseloff’s seminar 5 to share re-drafts of poems presented in class.

‘It don’t mean a thing if ain’t got that swing’: is this true for poetry? This course, aimed at beginners and those who’d like to re-tune their writing, aims to explore the music of poetry. You’ll read (and listen to) a wide range of poems, from past masters of the lyric to 21st Century voices, from Wordsworth to Warner, in order to help you think about the composition and sound of your own writing. Each session will give you the chance to share your poems with a critical yet constructive audience, improving your confidence as a writer and reader.

This is a Campus group associated with Mimi Khalvati’s Advanced Poetry Workshop, a place for course members to share work, resources and conversation.

Course description: In-depth focus on your poems in progress and the overall direction and development of your work. There won’t be writing exercises, but the sessions will be enlivened by reading published poetry as a stimulus for your writing and discussion.

This is a Campus group associated with the Tutor Academy course, a place for course members to share work, resources and conversation.

Course description:We don’t only teach poetry writing skills at the Poetry School. We help working poets extend their range too – hence this course where experienced poets, new to teaching, try their wings in front of a class of helpful students. James Brookes will be looking at vanity, Luke Heeley at iconography, Wayne Holloway Smith will be ‘making it wonky’, Holly Hopkins will sort out your list poems and Sarah Howe will be working with dream poems. (More details on http://www.poetryschool.com.) Lots of great prompts for and feedback on your writing at half the price of our usual courses.

This is a Campus group associated with Myra Schneider’s Taking Your Writing Further course, a place for course members to share work, resources and conversation.

Course description: A group which focuses on detailed feedback and discussion of your poems in each session, also key topics. This year topics will include the music of poetry, taking risks, subtexts and some key twentieth century poets.

This is a Campus group associated with Roddy Lumsden’s Here and There and Now course, a place for course members to share work, resources and conversation.

Course description: To be a contemporary poet, you should read contemporary poetry, but it’s easy to fall behind when so much is happening and so many new poets are publishing. This course is aimed at well-read advanced students who want to discuss and learn about recent developments in UK and US poetry. This term will look at a new generation of younger UK/US poets who are revitalising poetry. Class members will be encouraged to write and show poetry which responds creatively to the poems discussed.

This is a Campus group associated with Myra Schneider’s Poetry & Prose course, a place for course members to share work, resources and conversation.

Course description: A monthly meeting for those who have had some experience in writing poetry or serious fiction, involving exercises and in-depth feedback to develop critical skills. Myra’s particular interests lie in personal writing, an area in which she’s widely published, also narrative.

This is the first of a trio of student-centred courses designed both for relative beginners looking for a more structured approach to their writing and for experienced writers looking to widen their repertoire or make a fresh start. You will have the opportunity to develop one or more approaches to writing and start to build up a body of creative work with a definite individual identity. You will examine the basics of free and formal verse structures, but also consider different ways into writing and different ways in which writing can engage with public or private themes. Through exercises, reading, writing, group feedback and small group planning sessions, you will be encouraged to construct an independent voice, to create shapes on the page and develop your writing with confidence.

This is a Campus group associated with the Poetry Library Lock-in course, a place for course members to share work, resources and conversation.

Course description: A new course for poetry writers and readers, to celebrate the Poetry Library’s 60th anniversary. Poets and regular Library users Claire Crowther, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Fiona Moore, Daljit Nagra and James Wilkes, in discussion with resident Librarians and course students, will talk about their discoveries in the Library and the new work it has led to. After-hours access to the Library’s collection of books, audio, video and ephemera will inspire new poems and deepen understanding of current trends in contemporary poetry. This course is suitable for people looking for independent inspiration for new work and also those wanting informal but in-depth poetry discussion.

A closed group for those participating in this bespoke development programme for poetry magazine editing by the Poetry School and The Rialto