THE LIMIT: Shaking Up Your Poetic Sensibilities

In talking with those who are struggling with their writing, I’ve come to realize that sometimes a poet may be stuck because they aren’t seeing all the possibilities available to them. This course intends to shake up your idea of what poetry can be by introducing you to a variety of work, all with some “official” endorsement as poetry, operating at different frontiers (limits) of literature.

The list of poets to be studied is not yet final (since there are so many incredible possibilities), but will likely include Emily Dickinson, Stéphane Mallarmé, Guillaume Apollinaire, Gertrude Stein, Hugo Ball, E.E. Cummings, Surrealist collaborations, Nicolás Guillén, Amiri Baraka, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery, Karl Young, Hannah Weiner, David Antin, Kamau Brathwaite, Rosemarie Waldrop, Russell Edson, Jayne Cortez, Tom Phillips, Lyn Hejinian, and Steve McCaffery. I’m open to suggestions: before the course those who submit their email address will have the opportunity to nominate additional poets.

Due to the volume and challenge of the work to be studied, this will be an intense course and so to make it more digestible, we’ll be reading two poets per week for about three to four months (exact schedule to be announced when the course opens for registration). Course includes instructor-led online forum discussions (in our private course area, with each lesson’s kickoff post sent to your email), biweekly small-group peer-led Zoom calls, and an ongoing class forum where you can interact with other participants.

Cost: $20

Instructor: Meg Hartmann

Sign up to be notified when registration for this course opens by submitting your email below. Signing up for updates does not commit you to taking the class. Which classes open in the future will depend on which classes get the most interest – so please do sign up for updates if you want to see a class happen! Entering your email for more than one class is encouraged.