Poetry Writing Course
Structure – Tutor – Enrolement/Fees – Testimonials
Poetry Writing Course Online. The French poet Paul Valéry defined poetry as ‘a language within a language.’ American poet Kenneth Koch spoke of poetry as ‘a language in which the sound of the words is raised to an importance equal to that of their meaning.’
Each word has a little music of its own, which poetry rearranges so it can be heard. In Adam’s comprehensive workshops you will delve deep into these arrangements, exploring the full arsenal of poetic tools– such as symbolism, repetition, figurative speech and persona – you need to become fluent in poetry.
Adam will combine reading poems with writing them and encourage both beginners and more experienced poets to listen for words that help a poem hang together.
The course will also introduce many poetic forms such as the sonnet, haiku and villanelle, and you will discover how contemporary poets continue to push the envelope of these age-old forms.
Taking its approach from Paul Muldoon’s advice to, ‘lose your voice and write about what you don’t know’, the course will take you deeper into your unique poetic style where you will be encouraged to first learn the rules and then break them.
All this and lots more …
Each week you will receive a module with several exercises constructed by Adam and then receive personal feedback to encourage and help you move forward. This one-to-one workshop is individually tailored for each poet – beginners, intermediate and advanced level.
Structure: Poetry Writing Course
Week 1: Writing from experience.
- Using your own life to find and strengthen your writing voice.
- Showing not Telling.
- How avoiding abstract nouns and using concrete language makes your work more evocative.
Week 2: Keep it Symbol
- Using symbols in your work.
- Writing about objects.
- Exploring anthropomorphic or personification poetry.
- Sensory perception; using the senses to enhance your work.
Week 3: Transforming Tradition
- Recognising cliches.
- Subverting and re-enlivening clichés.
- Learning about stereotypes in writing.
Week 4: Making more with less
- Mastering the art of brevity
- and learning Haiku from the old masters
- using haiku in the 21st century.
Week 5: The Sonnet
- learning different aspects of the sonnet
- Rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter. Using the contemporary slant sonnet.
- Creating a rhyme well to form a sonnet.
Week 6 Module 6: Found in Translation (for monoglots)
- How to become a translator even if you speak only one language.
- translating fragments of classical poetry.
- Translating from cribs.
- Homophonic translation.
Week 7: Mythology in poetry
- Putting ancient myths into a contemporary context
- Demythologizing the myth
- Adapting and reinterpreting mythology for the modern age.
- Apotheosis: bringing the gods back down to earth.
Module 8: Man and Beast
- Stepping into the skin of animals
- Abstract animals – having fun juxtaposing animals with abstract nouns, such as love and hate.
- Animal as muse. Finding animals for inspiration.
- Sound poetry, creating your own language through mythical beasts.
Module 9: Editing and Redrafting
- The next stage.
- Tips and exercise to help edit and re-draft your work.
- Writing pastiches.
Module 10: The end is just the Beginning
- Writing about home
- The Guide exercise.
- Ars poetica: writing your own poem about poetry.
- Writing tips from writers and advice on how to get published.
Course Tutor: Adam Wyeth
ADAM WYETH is an award-winning and critically acclaimed poet, playwright and essayist with five books published with leading Irish publisher, Salmon Press. He is an Associate Artist of the Civic Theatre, Dublin. In 2019 he received The Kavanagh Fellowship Award.
Adam’s critically acclaimed debut collection, Silent Music (2011) was Highly Commended by the Forward Poetry Prize. His second book, The Hidden World of Poetry: Unravelling Celtic Mythology in Contemporary Irish Poetry, (Foreword by Paula Meehan) contains poems from Ireland’s leading poets followed by sharp essays that unpack each poem and explore its Celtic mythological references. The book is used as a Celtic Studies teaching at several universities. Adam’s third book and second poetry collection The Art of Dying was published in 2016 and was named as an Irish Times Book of the Year.
Adam’s poetry has won and been commended in many international competitions, including The Bridport Poetry Prize, The Arvon Poetry Prize and The Ballymaloe Poetry Prize. His work appears in several anthologies including The Forward Prize Anthology (2012 Faber), The Best of Irish Poetry (Southword 2010), The Arvon 25th Anniversary Anthology, and The Ordinary Woman & Other Poems I Love; Ed, Kathleen Watkins, Gill Books.
Adam’s plays have been performed across Ireland and in New York and Berlin. His play, This Is What Happened was published by Salmon in 2019. His latest book about:blank published in 2021 is an experimental hybrid piece, mixing poetry, prose and dramatic text. In 2020 Adam received the Arts Council Ireland Literature Project Award and was selected for The National Theatre of Ireland, The Abbey Theatre, Engine Room Development Programme to work on an audio production of about:blank.
about:blank premiered at Dublin Theatre Festival 2021, in association with the Civic Theatre, performed by Olwen Fouere, Owen Roe and Paula McGlinchey. In 2021 Adam was a recipient of the Live Music & Performance Scheme for there will be no silence, a new music and text work, in collaboration with Emmy-nominated composer David Downes, performed by pianist Rolf Hind and cellist Adrian Mantu, with actors Aisling O’Sullivan and Owen Roe.
Adam is a member of Poetry Ireland’s Writers in Schools Scheme and has over twenty years of experience facilitating Creative Writing Workshops.
Enrolment/Fees: Poetry Writing Course
The course costs £337, payable in advance to Fish Publishing through PayPal. To check how much that is in your currency – Currency Converter –
Use the ‘Pay Now’ button below to make the payment.
Payment secures your place on the course.
Confirmation of payment from PayPal will be by email.
You will shortly receive an introductory email from your course tutor (normally within 3 working days). We hope that you find the course useful, constructive and enjoyable. Please fill out the Feedback form after the last module.
Enrolment Conditions
To enroll on the Poetry Course:
Testimonials: Poetry Writing Course
Adam’s course took me on an exciting adventure with language. The varied exercises did present challenges but they also promoted creativity. Some exercises as well as helping me to do my best work, also taught me to approach poetry writing in an innovative and more imaginative manner. Adam’s feedback is an important element of the course. His specific feedback pinpoints exactly why lines work or don’t work. Incisive, supportive and clear feedback pointed out strengths as well as guiding me on areas that needed to improve. After completing Adam’s course, I feel more confident in my approach to writing and editing my poems.
I teach my university students how to analyze poetry and literature, but with Adam I learned how to try to enter the world of poetry with beginner’s eyes, inhabit the role of the poet, allow myself to have fun with words, fall off the poet’s stool and get back on again. Working with Adam has also given me courage to go back to my prose, which I keep on dropping and sticking in a drawer, like a scalding pot of words.
Peggy Preciado
The whole course has been an adventure. An eye opener too. It has given me lots of exercises I can use to stimulate ideas. Mostly it has given me insight into where my strengths might lie, and of course where I need to concentrate my efforts to improve.
Maureen Cullen
What an enjoyable course it has been, thank you.
Avril Leigh
The course has been fun but challenging, always nudging me beyond my comfort zone and giving me plenty of new ideas and new ways of thinking about poetry. Above all, the personalised feedback has been incredibly useful, like having your own mentor, encouraging but also very honest. A great learning experience.
Marina Sofia
Working with Adam Wyeth has been like pulling up a chair next to a master craftsman, as he patiently explained the tools of his craft. Adam has allowed me to experiment without embarrassment, which I truly needed.
I teach my university students how to analyze poetry and literature, but with Adam I learned how to try to enter the world of poetry with beginner’s eyes, inhabit the role of the poet, allow myself to have fun with words, fall off the poet’s stool and get back on again. Working with Adam has also given me courage to go back to my prose, which I keep on dropping and sticking in a drawer, like a scalding pot of words.
Peggy Preciado
Enrolment Conditions: Poetry Writing Course
Once the Poetry Writing Course has commenced, there are no transfers or refunds in the event you are unable to continue. In exceptional circumstances, a time extension may be granted if the student is unable to complete the course in the allotted time limit. You understand the course materials are copyright and agree never to sell, rent or otherwise distribute your course materials in any way. Enrolment on the Poetry Writing Course is taken as acceptance of conditions.
