Sign up now for September Poetry Course!

Don’t know your anapaests from your iambs? Vexed by hexameter? Ever wanted to write the perfect sonnet? If you answered ‘yes,’ to any of the above, then you may be interested in a new poetry course I’ll be launching in September. Read on to find out more…

The Elements of English Poetry

In this course, I want to break English poetry down into its nuts and bolts, and consider ‘what makes a poem a poem?’ Of course, we can all write from the heart, so in a sense, we can all write poetry, but if you want to know more about the formal stylistic elements of poetry in English, then this course is for you. Modern poetry tends to be free verse, imagistic, loosely formed: but it is good practice, I think, to look to the great poets of the past and learn the ‘rules’ such as they are, so we know better how to break them, should we so desire. Topics to be covered include:

• Metrical units and metre in English poetry
• Traditional poetic forms
• Rhyme schemes
• Imagery and metaphor
• Breaking the rules and freeing the verse

How the course will be taught

The course will be taught over six weeks, via a series of weekly Zoom sessions (1 hour per week.) The Zoom sessions will take place in small groups, and there will be time for teaching, discussion and feedback at each one. Assignments will be handed out at the end of each session, and at the beginning of the next session everyone will have a chance to read their poetry from the previous session, and receive feedback from their peers. I will also offer individual, tailored feedback via email.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, you should feel confident about writing those poetic forms you might have shied away from in the past. You will come away with a deeper understanding of how English poetry was composed traditionally, and how those traditions can be broken but still respected, in order to up your poetry game and write poetry to dazzle your readers and set your muse ablaze!

My Credentials

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Ingrid Wilson: an internationally-published and acclaimed poet (most recently published in Gleam: Journal of the Cadralor, and nominated for Spillwords Author of the Year 2021). I am also an independent publisher with an Amazon No.1 Bestselling Poetry Anthology to my name.

My educational background is in English historical literature: I hold a first class Honours Degree in English, and a Master’s Degree in Classics. You can find many examples of my poetry on this blog, including the EIF Poetry Challenge, which I ran in 2020, encouraging other poets to try their hand at various poetic forms. I am also a regular bartender at dVerse Poets’ Pub, and a featured contributor at MasticadoresUSA.

Course Fees and Enquiries

To find out more about the course, including fees and joining information, please email me at: ingrid@experimentsinfiction.com. I look forward to hearing from you!