Craft of Poetry

WRITING 541

The effect of surprise in poems is usually due to this set of techniques: juxtaposition, turn, and reversal. In this course, we will focus in on these craft elements, both creatively and contextually (a poet is always writing in juxtaposition to their historical and biographical moments: sometimes surprise in poetry is seeded here). Haiku, haibun, sonnet, braided poems, and collage will be central poetic forms for us. Reading will range widely, from 17th Century Japanese poets to a few of our troubling, significant Modernists and Confessionalists to some recent first books
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