Poetry and Creative Writing Course

Lesson 1 • Reading as a Writer

Analyse published texts to identify craft choices rather than just content. This active reading habit underpins all subsequent writing practice in the course.

Lesson 2 • Observation and Sensory Detail

Train attention on concrete sensory experience as the primary source of vivid writing. Specific detail distinguishes memorable writing from vague generalisation.

Lesson 3 • Building a Writing Practice

Establish sustainable daily habits, rituals, and accountability structures for consistent output. A reliable practice is the infrastructure for all advanced work ahead.

Lesson 4 • Voice and Authentic Perspective

Identify the qualities that make a writer's voice distinctive and practice sustaining it. Voice is the thread connecting all genres covered in this course.

Lesson 1 • Imagery and Concrete Language

Construct images that create vivid mental pictures through precise, concrete nouns and verbs. Strong imagery is the foundation of effective poetic communication.

Lesson 2 • Diction and Word Choice

Evaluate connotation, register, and etymology to select words with maximum resonance. Precise diction distinguishes polished poems from first drafts.

Lesson 3 • Compression and Economy of Language

Cut redundancy and achieve maximum meaning in minimum words through revision strategies. Economy of language is the defining discipline of poetic craft.

Lesson 4 • Sound Devices in Poetry

Employ alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia to create sonic texture. Sound reinforces meaning and creates the musical quality unique to poetry.

Lesson 1 • Stanza Forms and Patterns

Explore couplets, tercets, quatrains, and irregular stanzas as units of thought and breath. Stanza choice organises the poem's argument and pacing.

Lesson 2 • Free Verse and Open Form

Compose free verse using organic principles of breath, syntax, and visual arrangement. Open form demands conscious structural decisions in the absence of inherited rules.

Lesson 3 • Meter and Rhythm

Scan basic metrical patterns and understand how rhythm creates expectation and surprise. Meter provides the underlying pulse that free verse either follows or departs from.

Lesson 4 • Fixed Forms: Sonnets and Villanelles

Write in the sonnet and villanelle, learning how constraint generates creative pressure. Fixed forms teach discipline and reveal how structure creates meaning.

Lesson 1 • The Prose Poem

Write prose poems that use poetic density and imagery within paragraph form. The prose poem challenges genre boundaries and expands formal possibilities.

Lesson 2 • The Lyric Poem

Explore the lyric as a mode of intense, present-tense subjectivity focused on a single moment. Lyric compression and emotional directness are central to the poetic tradition.

Lesson 3 • Hybrid and Cross-Genre Writing

Combine lyric, narrative, and essayistic modes to create texts that resist easy categorisation. Hybrid forms reflect contemporary creative practice and expand expressive range.

Lesson 4 • Narrative Poetry and Storytelling

Use poetic tools to tell stories with character, conflict, and arc in compressed form. Narrative poetry bridges poetry and fiction, expanding the writer's range.

Lesson 1 • Voice and Intimacy in Nonfiction

Develop a nonfiction voice that balances vulnerability, authority, and literary style. Voice in nonfiction establishes the trust that makes personal writing compelling.

Lesson 2 • Reflection and Meaning-Making

Move beyond event narration to articulate insight and significance through reflective prose. Reflection transforms personal experience into universal resonance.

Lesson 3 • Scene and Summary in Nonfiction

Balance dramatised scenes with reflective summary to control pacing and meaning. Scene grounds the reader in experience; summary provides interpretive context.

Lesson 4 • Memory, Truth, and Craft

Navigate the ethical and aesthetic tensions between factual accuracy and narrative shaping. Understanding these tensions is essential for responsible personal writing.

Lesson 1 • Workshop Culture and Ethics

Establish norms of respect, specificity, and generosity that make critique productive. A healthy workshop culture is the foundation for all peer learning in this course.

Lesson 2 • Self-Assessment and Reflection

Write cover letters and self-assessments that articulate a piece's intentions and open questions. Self-assessment builds metacognitive awareness essential for independent growth.

Lesson 3 • Written Critique and Response Letters

Compose detailed written responses that a writer can return to during revision. Written critique extends the workshop conversation beyond the session itself.

Lesson 4 • Giving Effective Oral Feedback

Deliver specific, evidence-based critique that serves the writer's vision rather than the reader's preference. Effective oral feedback is a learnable and transferable skill.

Lesson 1 • Macro-Level Revision Strategies

Assess structure, argument, and arc before addressing line-level concerns. Macro revision ensures the piece works as a whole before fine details are polished.

Lesson 2 • Line-Level and Micro Revision

Refine diction, syntax, rhythm, and imagery at the sentence and line level. Micro revision is where craft decisions become precise and intentional.

Lesson 3 • Building a Revision Checklist

Create a personalised revision checklist based on recurring weaknesses identified in earlier drafts. A personal checklist makes revision systematic and self-directed.

Lesson 4 • The Revision Mindset

Reframe revision as discovery rather than correction, embracing radical change as creative opportunity. This mindset shift is the prerequisite for effective revision practice.

Lesson 1 • Presenting Work to an Audience

Prepare and deliver a public reading of selected portfolio pieces with confidence and clarity. Public presentation is a professional skill that extends the life of written work.

Lesson 2 • Writing the Artist's Statement

Articulate your aesthetic values, influences, and intentions in a concise artist's statement. The statement contextualises the portfolio and demonstrates critical self-awareness.

Lesson 3 • Final Revision for Portfolio

Apply all revision skills to bring selected pieces to their highest level of polish. Portfolio revision integrates every craft skill developed throughout the course.

Lesson 4 • Selecting and Curating Work

Apply editorial judgement to select pieces that represent range, growth, and thematic coherence. Curation is an act of authorship that shapes how readers experience your work.