ENGL 070D. Advanced Poetry Workshop: The Poetic Sequence

 
In this workshop, students will explore the poetic sequence as a multifaceted structure for expanding, refracting, and deepening sources of tension in draft poems.  Rather than placing pressure on a single poem to flesh out the physical, emotional, and intellectual contexts at hand, we’ll investigate our draft poems as source material for generating poetic sequences.

The poetic sequence offers a unique opportunity for sustained exploration of a compelling question, topic, and/or theme. In class discussions, we’ll consider the following questions: how do poets use reflection, refraction, and juxtaposition to shape a narrative arc, pose a question, or develop an argument across a series of lyric utterances? What is the role of white space, silence, and restraint within a sequence? In the presence of destabilizing aspects such as associative leaps, what features offer stabilizing forces for the reader? How might we characterize formal v. thematic unity in the class examples, and their respective effects?  

With a primary (but not exclusive) focus on poems by BIPOC writers, our reading list will include poets such Natasha Tretheway, Megan Fernandez, A. Van Jordan, Rick Barot, Torrin A. Greathouse, Vievee Francis, Layli Long Soldier, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, and Tyehimba Jess.

Students will experiment with prompts inspired by class models and apply kaleidoscopic approaches to expand their draft material.  Strategies will include given forms such as the sonnet corona, haibun/burning haibun, and ghazal, as well as shaping strategies such as persona, erasure, hermit crab forms, and collage. Drawing on craft elements such as point of view, tone, syntax, as well as narrative, lyrical, and rhetorical modes, students will produce a constellation of poems meant to be in conversation with each other. Attendance and written peer feedback are mandatory. Previous workshop experience required. 

Attendance at readings required. Limited to 12 students.
C/NC
Prerequisite:  At least 1, ideally 2, previous workshops (ENGL 070A, 070E, 070G, or 070J, or similar workshop elsewhere.) Admission and credit determined by instructor.
Humanities.
1 credit.
Spring 2025. Ahmed.
Catalog chapter: English Literature  
Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/english-literature

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