Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/poetry-workshop

Introduction

### Course Review: Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop For those whose hearts resonate with the rhythm of words, "Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop" on Coursera is an invaluable opportunity to delve deeper into the art of poetry. This course is not just about creating poetry; it is about refining and enhancing your poetic voice, transforming your initial drafts into powerful pieces of literature that can evoke emotions, provoke thoughts, and inspire change. #### Course Overview The course adopts an innovative approach to poetry writing, centered around the idea that the journey of a poem continues well after the first draft is complete. This is a space for passionate poets who believe that just as the Internet offers more than just email, poetry too can offer more than mere self-expression. The course emphasizes that poetry can be a transformative force—one that reshapes perceptions of the world and illuminates the intricacies of human experience. #### Syllabus Breakdown **1. Introduction and the Poetic Line** The course kicks off by focusing on the foundational elements of poetry: lines and stanzas. You will grapple with understanding the significance of line breaks and experiment with different techniques to determine which methods resonate with your writing style. Through engaging exercises and a writing prompt, this session sets the tone for your poetic journey. **2. Abstraction and Image** Moving beyond mere visuals, this module encourages participants to challenge the traditional notions of abstraction and imagery. You will explore how to craft compelling images while finding new symbols to replace clichés. This section urges you to think innovatively, crafting relationships and moods that elevate your poetry significantly. **3. Metaphor and Other Formulas of Difference** This segment encourages you to play with contrasts and juxtapositions. The focus shifts from simple comparisons to exploring the powerful impacts of difference in poetic expression. You will learn to use contrasting elements to craft more engaging and thought-provoking poetry. A peer-assessed assignment allows you to receive feedback and insight from fellow writers. **4. Rhyme** Not to be overlooked, the module on rhyme illuminates its intricate role in poetry. By examining various forms of rhyme—sonic, visual, and conceptual—you will gain a broader understanding of how patterns of similarity can enhance the emotive quality of your poems. **5. Rhythm** Rhythm is at the heart of spoken language, and this module guides you in harnessing that cadence to amplify your poetry’s emotional resonance. You will explore traditional metrical concepts and discover how they can serve as a foundation for more innovative rhythmic structures. **6. Sharpened Poetry: Revision Strategies** As the course culminates, you will focus on the critical art of revision. You’ll learn that revision is not simply about refining but about intensifying the original emotional depth of your work. This final module includes peer reviews of your revised poetry, benefiting from constructive criticism that will help you grow as a poet. #### Recommendations This course is highly recommended for aspiring poets, creative writers, and anyone interested in harnessing the power of poetic expression. Whether you're a novice eager to learn or a seasoned writer looking to refine your craft, “Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop” offers a rich tapestry of lessons and exercises that cater to various skill levels. The support of a community of fellow poets through peer reviews also adds immense value to the learning experience. You will not only enhance your poetry but also broaden your perspectives through the feedback and diverse styles of your peers. In conclusion, “Sharpened Visions” is more than just a poetry workshop; it is a journey into the depths of language and emotion, allowing you to emerge more confident, skilled, and passionate about your writing. Enroll today and discover how to transform your poetic expressions from mere drafts into artistic masterpieces.

Syllabus

Introduction and the Poetic Line

Poetry orchestrates its music, arguments, tensions, and environment via arrangements of language into lines and stanzas. This week we’ll address the importance of the line break, perhaps the most conspicuous, signature tool in the poet’s toolkit. Do you break more for sound, for sense, visual effect, shape, a mix of several? We’ll participate in several line break exercises and remix found poems. Also: prepare for your first quiz and a fun first writing prompt.

Abstraction doesn’t mean “deep,” and image doesn’t mean “picture.” Images are typically understood as anything you can literally touch/taste/see/hear/smell, and abstractions are those things for which we have symbols (a clock for “time,” a heart for “love”) but no image. Abstractions and images may fill our poems, but how can you tell what’s what, and how can you leverage them to compelling ends? This week we’ll work at finding new symbols to replace clichéd ones for abstractions and we’ll work at crafting images that do more than add furniture to a poem, but create systems of relationships, moods, and even style.

Most of us think of simile and metaphor, personification and other similar figures of speech as being about similarities between objects, concepts, and entities. But the juice in these formulas comes from how different the two things being compared seem to be. This is why writing: “the shark moved like a fish” is, alone, a lot less interesting than saying “the shark moved like a squad car.” We’ll talk about how playing with difference via juxtaposition can create a range of poetic effects. Then you’ll write a poem built of one robustly developed or several contrasting juxtapositions. We'll end this module with yet another quiz, and our first poetry workshop -- facilitated through a peer assessed assignment.

This week we’ll explore how rhyme leverages patterns of sameness and how we can estrange similarity for compelling poetic effects. We’ll check out examples of “rhyme”—sonic, visual, conceptual—from outside of poetry too.

All spoken language has rhythm, the trick is working the rhythm in such a way that drives your poem toward the effects you’re after. Maybe you want a fluid, seductive, propulsive rhythm. Perhaps something that halts or stutters. We’ll use traditional western concepts of meter as a means to open the door to this discussion, but we may leave them at the door upon entry.

When you revise a poem, you are not trying to dull the emotional flash of your first draft. You must, instead, intensify it. In this, our final week, we’ll discuss the difference between revision and editing, the art of reading your own work critically, and the beauty of drafts. For your final peer review, you’ll turn in (and in turn, assess) a revision of one of the poems from the preceding 5 modules.