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Adventures in Technique (Poetry)

Module description

In this module you will explore advanced techniques for writing poetry, exploring the functions that form serves in helping poets present particular sets of ideas, images and subjects. You will discover the intrinsic relationship between shape, sound, visual presentation, and meaning. You will experiment with finding the right form for the right subject, experimenting with a range of different forms and constraints, from traditional lyric forms, through to experimental and innovative techniques. This course will therefore add an exploratory and innovative set of techniques to those you have already learned in years 1 and 2 (developing your appreciation of form from free verse, sonnets, prose poems, ballads and others) to include surprising and challenging approaches to writing poetry.

Module aims - intentions of the module

You will be encouraged to develop a range of technical responses to materials and examples discussed in writing workshops, within the framework set by creative reading, drafting, discussion and re-writing. The module examines a range of advanced poetic techniques employed by contemporary and C20th poets, which you will explore as models for developing your own advanced ‘tool kit’ of poetic techniques and forms.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate an informed appreciation of a range of English language poetry
• 2. Demonstrate an understanding of the generic conventions of poetry, and to the shaping effects of authorship and intended audience
• 3. Demonstrate a capacity to produce poetry in a range of styles and genres, in a manner informed by recommended reading

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Demonstrate an informed appreciation of formal techniques and imaginative expression in creative writing
• 5. Present persuasive oral arguments concerning your own creative writing and the work of other authors, both peers and published writers
• 6. Articulate a broad range of appropriate critical and professional terminology

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Through seminar work, demonstrate advanced communication skills, and an ability to work both individually and in groups
• 8. Demonstrate advanced skills in creative expression, and a capacity to write clearly and correctly
• 9. Through research for seminars and essays, demonstrate advanced proficiency in information retrieval and analysis

Syllabus plan

The syllabus will include a detailed study of ‘The Sound of Sense’, using blank verse and metre revisited and stretched.

You will investigate the pattern making of forms such as the villanelle, terzanelle, triolet, and other repetitive forms: pantoum, sestina, and specular form.

In popular forms of performance poetry today, repetition, rhythm, pace and tone, rhyme, and other techniques of orality play a prominent role, and you will explore these. Other popular tropes in poetry today include ‘Translation and Versioning’ and the syllabus will cover approaches to these, as well as non-traditional forms such as Golden Shovels, Abecedaries, Collage, Found material, Centos, Concrete Poetry, and the visual text.

Through encounters with chance procedures, procedural techniques, and OuLiPo style constraints you will also experiment with the shaping forces of form. You will keep an annotated ‘Reading Log’ of all your encounters with these materials, showing how your readings of form and technique have influenced your own portfolio of writing.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

A precise reading list will be available on the module’s ELE page for each week, and tutors will provide you with weekly reading in class.

Based on class reading and discussions with your tutors and peers, you are expected to devise a reading list OF YOUR OWN, that will form the basis of your LOG BOOK OF READING for this module (20%), absolute minimum of 25 A4 pages), to include:

1. The annotated poems of AT LEAST THREE contemporary poets who have published books in recent years
2. Annotations of passages from AT LEAST TWO critical/technical books on the use of form, constraint and poetic technique

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE: 
• Over 300 quality interviews with significant international authors: The Paris Review – http://www.parisreview.com

Key words search

English, Creative Writing, Poetry