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- July 1, 2020

- Writing
- Poetry Writing: A Guide to Poetic Forms
Poetry Writing: A Guide to Poetic Forms
Summary
What makes a formal poem tick? It’s more than meter and rhyme. Discover how traditional forms spark rather than stifle creativity. Examine in-depth the sestina, villanelle, sonnet, and ghazal; tackle the unique challenges of writing each; and explore how to artfully merge form and content. Includes analysis of model poems, formal structures at a glance, and instructor critique.
Enrollment for this course is open through June 30, 2021, but exercises must be completed by June 30, 2021. Please enroll early enough to allow time for interaction with your instructor.
Success stories
Unsolicited Press in Oregon will be publishing Sandler’s chapbook, A Long Way from Kansas. Her manuscript, which gives voice to her generation of Baby Boomers and their elders, was in a three-way tie with two other poets, and all three will be published in one book in 2021. Sally worked with Angela Rydell in the online courses Poetry: Taking the Poetic Leap and Poetry: A Guide to Poetic Forms.
Details
Writing in form puts you in good company
Head back to poetry’s roots, and write in forms poets have written in for centuries. You, like Shakespeare, will write a sonnet; like Dylan Thomas, a villanelle; like Agha Shahid Ali, a ghazal; like Elizabeth Bishop, a sestina.
You’ll follow in the footsteps of giants, but formal poems needn’t parody the past. Analysis of both classic and contemporary models helps you navigate each form. You’ll take away tips for finding inventive rhymes and varying conventional rhythms while writing with a contemporary voice. Soon you’ll be dreaming in iambic pentameter.
Freedom in constraints
But why force your ideas into fixed forms when you can write verse that’s “free”? Many poets chafe at non-negotiable line length or strict meter. But there’s a rhyme and reason behind structural rules: they can be downright liberating.
Too many options often overwhelm. Form gives you a place to start, and a place to go. It defines a handful of clear choices, challenging you to be creative within a framework where “the imagination is taxed to its utmost—and will produce its richest ideas.” (T.S. Eliot) Poets who masterfully manipulate form and structure not only entrance readers, but satisfy a deep yearning for merging pattern and mystery, coherence and surprise.
Of course, formal verse isn’t for everybody. Yet dabbling in rhyme and meter may open new dimensions in your own reluctant poems. Training your ear to the nuances of form can make your writing more musical, whether you were born with a good ear or not. And relying on tried-and-true structures teaches you how to make graceful arguments, use meter to invigorate every line you write, and explore the delightful commingling of form and content. You’ll add new tricks to your writer’s toolbox, which you can use on poems both formal and free long after finishing the course.
Who is this course for?
- Free verse poets ready to shed formal inhibitions and embrace creativity within formal structures
- Writers who want to write in form to get closer to the roots of poetic tradition
- Poets looking to write contemporary poems using the conventions of fixed forms
- Any writer who’s taken the online courses “Getting to Good” or “Taking the Poetic Leap” and would like to expand into formal techniques (there’s no required prerequisite, but it’s recommend you take at least one poetry course before this one if you’ve never penned a poem)
- Intermediate or advanced poets inspired by the challenge and discipline of writing in traditional forms and looking to take their writing to the next level
- Any poet who wants to improve their ear, expand their vocabulary, and strengthen structure—so they can write some of their best poems yet
How the course works
You can start our workshops anytime, and there are no required hours to log on. It’s all done with one-on-one correspondence with the instructor using email. You can read and print course materials in the course Web site, which you can access at your leisure with a password that we will give you. We have writers from around the world participating in our workshops. A lot of great writing gets accomplished via email. Because of the one-on-one nature of our workshops, you’ll find them an excellent “coaching” or mentoring situation that will keep you going. And if you want to just work on your own — hey, that’s fine too. Of course you can do the suggested exercises on your own without the feedback if you’d rather do that. We’re also here throughout the year if you have questions.
Outline
Course syllabus
Each unit introduces a poetic form, discusses classic subjects to embrace or subvert, and includes checklists to lock key concepts in place. You’ll try your hand at the form, submit your poem for feedback, and move on to the unit that follows:
Unit 1: The Sestina’s Story. Try out the sestina’s succinct word repetition and the surprising narrative it inspires.
Unit 2: The Villanelle’s Dance. Learn to craft the haunting refrains and tight rhyme scheme of the villanelle.
Unit 3. The Petrarchan Sonnet’s Little Song. Study the classic rhyme scheme and lyric turn of the first sonnets written in English.
Unit 4. The Shakespearean Sonnet’s Argument. Delve deeper into a sonnet’s argument structure via quatrains and a concluding couplet.
Unit 5. The Ghazal’s Longing. Explore how to build anticipation using the ghazal’s refrain and beguiling internal rhymes.
All 5 units are divided into sections to facilitate both clarity and creativity in your formal venture:
- Read it and reap. Analyze a model poem that demonstrates the form.
- At a glance. Use a checklist and visual map as a speedy reference of form’s requirements.
- Form by osmosis. Read a short anthology of six poems, classic and contemporary, written by notable poets in the form.
- How-to-guide. Follow a step-by-step guide to composition and creativity within a formal structure.
- Firming up your form. Tackle challenges unique to each form, and take away strategies for overcoming them.
Plus! The course also includes in-depth handouts on meter and rhyme, which help you find surprising rhymes, match meter with emotion, and use repetition that’s never the same twice.
What makes a formal poem tick? It’s more than meter and rhyme. Discover how traditional forms spark rather than stifle creativity. Examine in-depth the sestina, villanelle, sonnet, and ghazal; tackle the unique challenges of writing each; and explore how to artfully merge form and content. Includes analysis of model poems, formal structures at a glance, and instructor critique.
Enrollment for this course is open through June 30, 2021, but exercises must be completed by June 30, 2021. Please enroll early enough to allow time for interaction with your instructor.
Success stories
Unsolicited Press in Oregon will be publishing Sandler’s chapbook, A Long Way from Kansas. Her manuscript, which gives voice to her generation of Baby Boomers and their elders, was in a three-way tie with two other poets, and all three will be published in one book in 2021. Sally worked with Angela Rydell in the online courses Poetry: Taking the Poetic Leap and Poetry: A Guide to Poetic Forms.
Details
Details
Writing in form puts you in good company
Head back to poetry’s roots, and write in forms poets have written in for centuries. You, like Shakespeare, will write a sonnet; like Dylan Thomas, a villanelle; like Agha Shahid Ali, a ghazal; like Elizabeth Bishop, a sestina.
You’ll follow in the footsteps of giants, but formal poems needn’t parody the past. Analysis of both classic and contemporary models helps you navigate each form. You’ll take away tips for finding inventive rhymes and varying conventional rhythms while writing with a contemporary voice. Soon you’ll be dreaming in iambic pentameter.
Freedom in constraints
But why force your ideas into fixed forms when you can write verse that’s “free”? Many poets chafe at non-negotiable line length or strict meter. But there’s a rhyme and reason behind structural rules: they can be downright liberating.
Too many options often overwhelm. Form gives you a place to start, and a place to go. It defines a handful of clear choices, challenging you to be creative within a framework where “the imagination is taxed to its utmost—and will produce its richest ideas.” (T.S. Eliot) Poets who masterfully manipulate form and structure not only entrance readers, but satisfy a deep yearning for merging pattern and mystery, coherence and surprise.
Of course, formal verse isn’t for everybody. Yet dabbling in rhyme and meter may open new dimensions in your own reluctant poems. Training your ear to the nuances of form can make your writing more musical, whether you were born with a good ear or not. And relying on tried-and-true structures teaches you how to make graceful arguments, use meter to invigorate every line you write, and explore the delightful commingling of form and content. You’ll add new tricks to your writer’s toolbox, which you can use on poems both formal and free long after finishing the course.
Who is this course for?
- Free verse poets ready to shed formal inhibitions and embrace creativity within formal structures
- Writers who want to write in form to get closer to the roots of poetic tradition
- Poets looking to write contemporary poems using the conventions of fixed forms
- Any writer who’s taken the online courses “Getting to Good” or “Taking the Poetic Leap” and would like to expand into formal techniques (there’s no required prerequisite, but it’s recommend you take at least one poetry course before this one if you’ve never penned a poem)
- Intermediate or advanced poets inspired by the challenge and discipline of writing in traditional forms and looking to take their writing to the next level
- Any poet who wants to improve their ear, expand their vocabulary, and strengthen structure—so they can write some of their best poems yet
How the course works
You can start our workshops anytime, and there are no required hours to log on. It’s all done with one-on-one correspondence with the instructor using email. You can read and print course materials in the course Web site, which you can access at your leisure with a password that we will give you. We have writers from around the world participating in our workshops. A lot of great writing gets accomplished via email. Because of the one-on-one nature of our workshops, you’ll find them an excellent “coaching” or mentoring situation that will keep you going. And if you want to just work on your own — hey, that’s fine too. Of course you can do the suggested exercises on your own without the feedback if you’d rather do that. We’re also here throughout the year if you have questions.
Outline
Course syllabus
Each unit introduces a poetic form, discusses classic subjects to embrace or subvert, and includes checklists to lock key concepts in place. You’ll try your hand at the form, submit your poem for feedback, and move on to the unit that follows:
Unit 1: The Sestina’s Story. Try out the sestina’s succinct word repetition and the surprising narrative it inspires.
Unit 2: The Villanelle’s Dance. Learn to craft the haunting refrains and tight rhyme scheme of the villanelle.
Unit 3. The Petrarchan Sonnet’s Little Song. Study the classic rhyme scheme and lyric turn of the first sonnets written in English.
Unit 4. The Shakespearean Sonnet’s Argument. Delve deeper into a sonnet’s argument structure via quatrains and a concluding couplet.
Unit 5. The Ghazal’s Longing. Explore how to build anticipation using the ghazal’s refrain and beguiling internal rhymes.
All 5 units are divided into sections to facilitate both clarity and creativity in your formal venture:
- Read it and reap. Analyze a model poem that demonstrates the form.
- At a glance. Use a checklist and visual map as a speedy reference of form’s requirements.
- Form by osmosis. Read a short anthology of six poems, classic and contemporary, written by notable poets in the form.
- How-to-guide. Follow a step-by-step guide to composition and creativity within a formal structure.
- Firming up your form. Tackle challenges unique to each form, and take away strategies for overcoming them.
Plus! The course also includes in-depth handouts on meter and rhyme, which help you find surprising rhymes, match meter with emotion, and use repetition that’s never the same twice.
Earn Credit Hours
By participating in this class you will earn:
Continuing Education Hours
20
Continuing Education Units, CEU
2
What Attendees Are Saying:
“‘A Guide to Poetic Forms’ is an interesting class with well-organized, informative units. I have enjoyed the challenge of shaping my poetic intent to fit a form, and a little surprised that I could actually do it.”
Upcoming Dates
All times shown are central time.
Register by phone: 608-262-2451
Register by mail: printable registration form
Schedule
Start anytime
Instructor(s)
Fee
$195
Location
Complete online
Earn Credit Hours
By participating in this class you will earn:
Questions?
Registration:Questions about this program:
- Christine DeSmet
- christine.desmet@wisc.edu
Cancellation Policy:
Our cancellation policy varies by type of program. View our policies page for more details about cancelling a program.
Accessibility Accommodations:
Please email the contact person listed above at least 2-3 weeks prior to the start of class if you require an accessibility accommodation.
What Attendees Are Saying:
“‘A Guide to Poetic Forms’ is an interesting class with well-organized, informative units. I have enjoyed the challenge of shaping my poetic intent to fit a form, and a little surprised that I could actually do it.”
ANGELA RYDELL

ANGELA RYDELL (MFA, Warren Wilson College) has been a writing coach and instructor for Continuing Studies since 2006. She's a recipient of the Poets & Writers' Writers Exchange Award and a Pushcart Prize nominee. Her fiction and poetry have been published in many journals.
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Upcoming Dates
All times shown are central time.
Online, start anytime
9060-21-LSA
Register by phone: 608-262-2451
Register by mail: printable registration form
Schedule
Start anytime
Add to CalendarInstructor(s)
ANGELA RYDELL

ANGELA RYDELL (MFA, Warren Wilson College) has been a writing coach and instructor for Continuing Studies since 2006. She's a recipient of the Poets & Writers' Writers Exchange Award and a Pushcart Prize nominee. Her fiction and poetry have been published in many journals.
Fee
$195
Location
Complete online
Earn Credit Hours
By participating in this class you will earn:
Continuing Education Hours
20
Continuing Education Units, CEU
2
Questions?
Registration:Questions about this program:
- Christine DeSmet
- christine.desmet@wisc.edu
Cancellation Policy:
Our cancellation policy varies by type of program. View our policies page for more details about cancelling a program.
Accessibility Accommodations:
Please email the contact person listed above at least 2-3 weeks prior to the start of class if you require an accessibility accommodation.
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//=gettype($subsegment_course)?>What Attendees Are Saying:
“‘A Guide to Poetic Forms’ is an interesting class with well-organized, informative units. I have enjoyed the challenge of shaping my poetic intent to fit a form, and a little surprised that I could actually do it.”
- Christine DeSmet
- christine.desmet@wisc.edu
Cancellation Policy:
Our cancellation policy varies by type of program. View our policies page for more details about cancelling a program.
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608-262-1156.
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Previous Class
9060-20-LSA
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Instructor(s)
ANGELA RYDELL
Location
Complete online