World & Self: Voicing the imagination

On this course we will focus on sources of inspiration and techniques for  developing them into vital and energised poetry.  Poetry creates bridges between the world and the self;  we'll look at ways of building these bridges and at crossing them.

Adrienne Rich posed the question - ' Where does poetry come from?'  and offered this answer –

…how we glimpse a blur of smoke in the air, look at a pair of shoes in a shop window, or a group of men on a street corner, how we hear rain on the roof or music on the radio upstairs, how we meet or avoid the eyes of a neighbour or a stranger.  That pressure bends our angle of vision whether we recognize it or not…When poetry lays its hand on our shoulder we are, to an almost physical degree, touched and moved…

and C K Williams asked‘…..how does the poet's mind operate in the creation of poems?'

On WORLD AND SELF, we’ll be looking at these questions and at the multiple sources of the imagination – the places poetry comes from, and the destinations it discovers.  Every poem conveys a sense of its own particular shape and music – where does that come from?  How much is the poet’s own instinct, ear, experience, and how much is consciously crafted, achieved by the making and taking of formal decisions?  How do these two modes weave together?

This course will explore these vital and productive areas.

There will be close-reading of poems by Adrienne Rich, C K Williams and others;  themes for writing will be offered, and there will be feed-back sessions within the group, and individual tutorial sessions.

Fee £595 all inclusive for the week in a shared room (Excluding flights)

£150 supplement for single room

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