An Exploration of Poetry Forms with Maeve O’Sullivan

Course Summary

In this four-week course, participants will be introduced six different poetry forms – rhyming and non-rhyming: the sonnet, the villanelle, the pantoum, the ghazal, the palindrome and the terza rima. They will learn a little about the history of these forms, with various examples provided. They will also receive guidelines for writing their own poems in form, two opportunities to write, share and get feedback on them, and be supplied with a range of resources including links to journals, essays etc.

Course Outline

Week One: Introduction to the sonnet and the villanelle

Week Two: Feedback plus introduction to the pantoum

Week Three: Introduction to the ghazal and the palindrome (mirror poem)

Week Four: Feedback and introduction to the terza rima.

Participants will be expected to produce two poems (out of a choice of four forms), i.e. one every second week.

Course Outcomes

It is hoped that participants will gain confidence when reading and writing formalist poetry, and will expand the repertoire of poetry forms in their writing skillset.

Maeve O’Sullivan’s poetry and haikai have been widely published, anthologized, awarded and translated. She is the author of six collections of long- and short-form poetry from Alba Publishing. The latest one, Where All Ladders Start (2024), received an Agility Award from the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon. Maeve has led haiku and ‘regular’ poetry workshops in various contexts including libraries, festivals and schools. www.maeveosullivan.com

Reviews / comments about Maeve’s long-form poetry

“Maeve O’Sullivan’s work is very firmly in a traditional lyric mould. Just as that brings challenges, it also offers rewards – there are moments of real beauty in the language here, and a voice that the reader can sympathise and identify with, one that we can hear with pleasure from the outset. Her use of poetic form is to be commended, and one can only look forward with interest to seeing her future work.”

Review of Vocal Chords (2014, Alba) by Paul Blake in Brittle Star, Issue 34.

“All of which is, quite honestly, simply to say that all the form in the world does not make a poem. The poem is elsewhere than in the form, though it is invisible and inaudible without the form. This is a very long-winded way of saying that the poems in Maeve O’Sullivan’s collection which employ certain forms, especially the villanelles, are true, true, true poems. Their character is lifted, amplified, shaped, moulded, delivered uniquely by the form chosen, elegantly executed, beautifully apt.”

Excerpt from poet Damian Smyth’s speech at the launch of Vocal Chords (2014, Alba Publishing)

‘Divided into three sections, “Home”, “East”, and “West”, Elsewhere presents a wide range of poems which highlight the joy of travel, return, and the constant presence of home…Elsewhere’s appeal lies in those poems which capture the vast and varied experiences of a world tour through a myriad of images, feelings, and moments.

Review of Elsewhere (2017, Alba) by Ellen Howley on Headstuff, March 2018.

‘Diverse in both theme and poetic form, honest and humorous, and vast as the expanse of her travels, Elsewhere is a book to be enjoyed by readers of haiku and poetry alike.’

Review of Elsewhere (2017, Alba) by Dave Read, Presence, January 2018.

“Maeve has proven herself to be a technically gifted formal poet. In this collection we are treated to a selection of villanelle, sonnets, haiku, haibun, two mirror poems, a sestina, a pantoum, and a concrete poem at the end. But she also showcases an array of free verse poems of various styles that display a mastery of dramatic voice and lyrical concision.”

Excerpt from Brian Kirk’s launch speech for Where All Ladders Start (November 2024, Alba Publishing)

Booked out? To be added to the waiting list for this course, please email info@irishwriterscentre.ie.