CRW 3311 - Summer A 2026 - Wilson

We will read and experiment with a variety of poetic strategies and forms as you begin the journey of sorting out the sense of self you had when you arrived from the varying points of view you’ll have an opportunity to inhabit. Short lectures on craft and mechanics, writing exercises, and discussion of readings will help make sense of your evolving worldviews, artistic voices, and creative ideas. Peer workshops aim to demystify the revision process as you improve your facility with written language and learn the importance of respectfully giving and receiving constructive feedback on written art’s resonance with an audience. We will cover a vast survey of formal poetic conventions emerging from historical & contemporary traditions in the West & East. After we develop facility with key terms—including image/object, introspection, voice, the line, syntax, prosody, etc.—we will experiment with traditional forms (Shakespearean & Petrarchan sonnet, villanelle, haiku, ballad stanza, etc.) as well as those you might not have encountered, including the pantoum and the ghazal.