Learn how to 'make' your own poetry by exploring different poetic techniques and styles. Discover the power of poetry, and learn to write your own. This course explores what inspires poetry, how we write poems and how to tell when your poem is finished.

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Whether you’ve never written a poem before, or you‘ve been secretly writing away for some years, this course provides a positive environment in which to begin writing and to share your work with others.

The course follows the story of a poem from start to end, guiding you through the process of writing your own work step by step.

To help us, we will be hearing from poets across world and throughout history, learning from the advice they have given others.

What topics will you cover?

On this course we will be asking questions such as:

- What is poetry and what is a poet?

- What choices go into writing a poem?

- What is the difference between craft and technique?

We will also be considering different poetic forms such as found poetry, the cento, sonnets, free verse, ghazal, as well as things to help you make formal choices such as line breaks, metre, rhyme, and rhythm. As well a developing your writing skills we will think about developing your inner editor and how to support others in writing their work in a poetry workshop.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

- Experiment with different techniques and new exercises to help generate new work

- Develop your own ‘voice’ in your poems

- Discuss how to read poetry for new ideas

- Investigate what poets from the past and present say about how we write poetry

- Collaborate on each other’s work and reflect on how to give positive and encouraging comments