A Poet’s Craft: The Revolutionary Spell of the Sonnet (1965)
Three Thursdays: May 2, 9, 16, 3:30 to 6 PM.
A journey through the sounds and shapes, loves and hates, meanings and uses of the most venerable and widespread poetic form in English. Each week focuses on a different branch of the sonnet through reading, discussion, and sonnet-writing. Topics covered will include the form’s history, structure, and impact, the idea of exoskeleton vs. endoskeleton, and some theories about why the sonnet has lasted, its revolutionary effect on the modern Western mind, and what makes a sonnet a sonnet anyway. No previous poetry writing experience is necessary. Three Thursdays: May 2, 9, 16, 3:30 to 6 PM.
Required Books
The Penguin Book of the Sonnet, edited by Phillis Levin
A Poet’s Craft: A Comprehensive Guide to Making and Sharing Your Poetry, by Annie Finch
Recommended Books
An Exaltation of Forms, edited by Finch and Varnes
A Formal Feeling Comes, edited by Annie Finch
The Birth of the Modern Mind: Self, Consciousness, and the Invention of the Sonnet, by Paul Oppenheimer
Annie Finch is the author or editor of six books of poetry, most recently Spells: New and Selected Poems. Her poetry has been performed at Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, installed in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and published in Poetry, Paris Review, The New York Times, and The Penguin Book of Twentieth-Century American Poetry. Her books for poets and poetry lovers include A Poet's Craft: A Comprehensive Guide to Making and Sharing Your Poetry, Measure for Measure: An Anthology of Poetic Meters, An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art, and The Body of Poetry. Finch holds a BA from Yale and a Ph.D from Stanford, has taught and lectured widely, and has received the Robert Fitzgerald Prosody Award for her lifetime contribution to the art and craft of versification.
REFUND POLICY: Please note that we can issue class refunds up until seven (7) days before the first class session.
