Course info

This ten week module in creative writing explores poetry from its origins to the present by engaging with both traditional forms and recent experiments. By taking a long view of poetry it will explore the way in which poetry changes over time, migrating from one place to another, one form to another, from cave wall to bark, to page, to body, to advertising billboard, to electronic media. Contemporary work will be explored which both engages with and departs from traditional forms of poetry, including work that extends the boundries and the language and forms of poetry towards actions, non-poetic language, and visual poetry. While the history of poetry might seem to demonstrate that the best poets are essentially unemployable, poetry and its utilitarian functions in advertising and related fields connecting to employability will be a central feature. Teaching will combine mini-lectures, seminars, writing workshops and field work.