Week 3: Epic Simile

Week 3: Epic Simile

Introduction In the third week, students are introduced to the epic simile: the technique of making a detailed and complex comparison, unfolding over several lines. The week is structured around four 20th century poets who have each reworked or re-contextualised...
Week 2: Sappho

Week 2: Sappho

The second week looks at Sappho as the beginning of the personal lyric, and the introduction of both personal relationships and of the physical body to the poem.

Week 1: Gilgamesh

Week 1: Gilgamesh

The course begins with some of the world’s earliest poems, the epic of Gilgamesh and the Psalms. It looks at how these very early poems establish a sense of the art of poetry as an art of recording, or of documenting.

A Conversation with the Past: From Sappho to Bashõ

Materials from Tim Dooley’s course at the Poetry School. There is still a remarkable split between courses and programmes designed to teach the practice of poetry and those designed to teach its history. This course attempts to do both, simultaneously.