The central aim of this one-day course is to increase your understanding of how poetry draws on rhythm, concision, imagery and the patterning of sound and silence in order to move a reader. The objective is for this to help you to produce your own new work, which is written with a reader in mind, someone who does not know you, rather than the only goal being self-expression.

By the end of the day, the main outcome is that you should have a better knowledge of how you can harness the effects of a range of poetic techniques in your writing, including metaphors and trying different approaches to constructing lines and stanzas, so that readers of your work are more likely to feel moved.

A secondary objective is that you will have acquired a number of methods for producing original poems by yourself. A key concept that will be introduced to enable this second objective is freewriting. The course will look at how this method can be used to follow the swerves and leaps of the unconscious mind as a means of creating images, phrasing and subject matter to develop further during the twin processes of composition and editing.

Another objective is for you to have an awareness of how reading published poems can help you to grow as a writer by studying the emotional impact of other writers’ handling of language and layout. At the end of the course, you will have improved your knowledge of how approaches such as showing feelings via imagery, rather than telling the reader of a poem about them directly, can be employed to engage the reader and make them active as a way of inspiring emotion.

What students need to bring

A notebook and pen, or an electronic device that can be used for writing at speed

Available to buy

Available from tutor: The tutor’s own poetry collections, Reckless Paper Birds and Panic Response, can be purchased online from most book retailers or bought on the day directly from the tutor, if you wish.

Daily Timetable

Course teaching 11am–5.15pm
Students arrive 10.30am-11am (coffee optional)  
Morning teaching 11am-1pm
Lunch break between 1pm-2pm (lunch is not included)
Afternoon teaching 2pm-5.15pm (15 minute break, 3.30pm–3.45pm)
Teaching finishes 5.15pm  
 

Short courses are open to anyone aged 18 and over. The course fee covers tuition and materials where stated. You will need to bring all other items listed under the ‘Materials to bring’ section.

Refreshments

Coffee and tea are included in the course fee, but you will need to bring lunch with you to eat in the refreshments room. There are also plenty of other local venues to purchase food.

Access

If you have any specific access needs, we will need to know about your access requirements in advance. Please tell us about your needs in confidence by emailing: [email protected] This venue has steps to the front reception, with limited access via a side gate to the ground floor. There is a small lift to higher floors or stairs.

Safety

Short course students are required to sign a safety compliance form as part of West Dean Health and Safety regulations.

Refunds and cancellations

Please refer to our terms & conditions below.

Disclaimer

The information given is accurate at the time of publication. However, West Dean College reserves the right to cancel or amend courses if circumstances require.

Terms & Conditions