From Dabbling to Diving: Writing Poetry with Mark Granier

Course Summary

Patrick Kavanagh once wrote: ‘I dabbled in verse and it became my life.’

Have you ever dabbled and wanted to take it further? Have you ever read a poem that moved or excited you and thought to yourself: ‘That’s amazing! How is it done? Could I do it?’

Have you ever wondered what the purpose of rhyme is, and why many poets still use it (and many don’t); or what makes unrhymed poetry different from prose, and why line-breaks are important (except when they’re not)?

If you’re a curious beginner who enjoys reading and talking about poetry, or someone who has written (and maybe even published) some poems, and is now looking for direction and feedback, this course is for you.

Course Outline:

This course will encourage questions and ideas, and invite you to immerse yourselves in an eight-week conversation about poetry. Apart from breaking into the blank page with triggering exercises and writing prompts, you will look at a number of poems by published poets whose methods and techniques will be discussed. Topics covered will include imagery, metaphor and the prose poem. You will also look at some of the oldest poetic devices that are still in use –– riddles, anaphora and parallelism for example –– and forms such as the sonnet and haiku. In the final class, you will be given advice on publishing and a suggested list of excellent anthologies and selected books about poetry. But it should be noted that the emphasis will be on having an adventure with language (in other words pleasure, or simply fun).

Mark Granier has an MA in Poetry from Lancaster University, and has taught poetry and creative writing at The Irish Writers’ Centre and UCD for many years. His awards include two Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowships, The Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize and several Arts Council Bursaries. His fifth collection, Ghostlight: New & Selected Poems, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2017. His sixth collection is forthcoming from Salmon in 2025.

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