Breaking the Rules: a Poetry Workshop

This course will become read-only in the near future. Tell us at community.p2pu.org if that is a problem.

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Let's crack poems open and see them for their parts--where are they successful & resonant?  Where are they timid, show weakness, or overflow their banks?  W.D. Snodgrass took 101 acclaimed poems and re-wrote them into what he called De/Compositions--or, good poems gone wrong. Snodgrass recast each poem, line-by-line, until the result looked entirely different from the original. His versions document how artistic choices accumulate, and translate to a transcendent product.  No gesture is too small, no trope too tiny, each choice matters in crafting the sound and sensation of the poem.

Each week, participants will choose from among 2-3 poems to discuss and render their own version. You can deconstruct it, recast it classically, go Minimalist, whatever strikes you. Our versions will question each choice the poet made, and redirect that energy into making our “own” poems.  

Participants produce 4-5 poems, and read/pick apart the likes of Jeanette Allée, Frank Bidart, Michael Dickman, Miriam Bird Greenberg, Lynda Hull, Yusef Komunyakaa, Phillip Larkin, Ada Limón, Kay Ryan and Dean Young.

Task Discussion


  • Vanessa Gennarelli   March 19, 2012, 9:35 p.m.

    Folks from "Breaking the Rules"!

    I hope this message finds you well! Wanted to drop a line about some awesome action that's happening at P2PU.

     

    What's Up at P2PU. We're trying a new course model called "Challenges":

    • Are courses that are task-based--you're familiar with that :)

    • Participants can start at anytime and work through tasks at their own pace.

    • There's no set time that we keep the expert on set--anyone can serve as mentors, and I'm hoping y'all form an awesome tiger team.  Which brings me to....

    Why I'm Contacting You. Did you dig "Breaking the Rules"? Would you have changed something about it? Make your own Challenge--it's very easy. 

     

     

    On April 18, P2PU will be doing a large announcement of courses to the world. Can we make a Poetry Challenge happen?

    I hope so. And the P2PU community is here to help you. 

    Join the weekly P2PU Community Call this Thursday, March 22 @ 11am EST for a special Course Organizers Session. The whole gang will be there ready to answer your burning questions. 

    See: http://pad.p2pu.org/p/community-call for all the details. 

    Happy learning, Vanessa

     

  • Vanessa Gennarelli   Sept. 20, 2011, 4:18 p.m.

    Hi Rule Breakers:

    Since we last wrote, I've started graduate school in Educational Technology and Networked Learning.  I've learned a lot, including where this course could be improved.

    To wit, it's being revamped and re-run with some new facilitation help.  The content will now be self-selected, and we're creating assignments to be much more collaborative. 

    I hope you'll join me at Hack this Poem.  Sign up is here.

    Best to you all, 

    Vanessa