Poetry Master Class with Jean O’Brien
Info
Date: November 9, 2024
Time: 10.30 am - 4.30 pm
Duration: One Day
Level: Beginner | Emerging |
Cost: €80 (€72 Members)
Location: Irish Writers Centre
This course will take place in person on Saturday 9 November (one day only).
Course Summary
This course, with award winning poet Jean O’Brien, is offered as a way of improving your own work. It is an opportunity to sort out your subject matter, improve your line beginnings and endings and editing skills. We will consider the lyric poem, the narrative poem and others.
There will be in-class discussion, readings, and time to look at your own work. Participants are advised to bring in one unfinished poem to discuss. This is an all-day intensive course.
Course Outline
In the first section, we’ll explore existing poets’ work and look at their use of imagery, metaphor and other poetic devices. Subject matter will be discussed including what to leave in and what to leave out. We’ll ask ourselves what carries emotional weight, what sparks our attention while learning to look with new eyes at everyday things and events.
We will discuss line length, the reach of breath, beginnings and endings and why they matter while thinking about different poetic forms, lyric or narrative, prose poems or free verse.
During the afternoon, we will read and discuss your own work and do a short in-class creative exercise.
Course Outcomes
Participants will come away with a clearer understanding of their own practice and what is worth pursuing, and an appreciation of the need for rigorous editing and how to nurture your creative practice.
Jean O’Brien has a Masters degree in poetry/creative writing from Trinity College, Dublin. She has been teaching in the Irish Writers Centre for over 20 years and at post graduate level for an American University.
Her Awards include; The Arvon International (UK) and the Fish International (Irl). Her work has also been placed or highly commended in the Forward Prize (single poem) (UK), the Bridport Prize (UK) twice and the Gregory O’Donoghue Prize (Irl), the Trocraire Award (Irl) including many others. She also received 2 Patrick Kavanagh Fellowships and was poet in residence in the Irish Cultural Centre (CCI) in Paris in 2021 and was awarded several Arts Council grants. She has six poetry collections from Salmon Publishing (Irl) her latest being Stars Burn Regardless (2022).
Booked out? To be added to the waiting list for this course, please email info@irishwriterscentre.ie.
