Advanced Blank Verse 401
Instructor: Ray Griffin (mountainwriter49)Includes a free two month upgraded membership! Details
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Duration: Three Weeks
Class Size: 7 Students
Seats Left: 2
This will be an interactive class where students will share their writings for critique by other students and then discuss our findings as part of the learning experience during the classroom period. Thus, the course will focus on some reading material and lots of writing.
This will be a four-week class with four two-hour class sessions.
WEEK 1:
Review of Blank Verse Basics and Established Blank Verse Writers
We'll start the class with getting to know each other and establishing a rapport between the class participants and instructor. We will spend a few minutes reviewing the basic guidelines for writing in blank verse, including a review of true and proximate rhymes. We will also review the readings of blank verse by several accomplished poets, i.e., Shakespeare, Marlowe, etc., and analyze how they successfully 'tweaked' the form.
WEEK 2:
Continued Review of Blank Verse Variations and Review of Students' Assigned Writings
We will continue our study of the established poets begun in week 1. The focus will be on how they effectively 'tweaked' the very strict blank verse form utilizing metrical variations some non-overt proximate rhyme. The focus will also be on utilizing effective poetic techniques of enjambment, metaphor, and developing the blank verse as poetic art rather than poetic technique. We will also discuss the writings submitted by students as part of the homework assignment.
Week 3: Continued Focus on Writing
This week's focus will be on writing and evaluating same vis-a-vis the blank verse guidelines and principles being studied in the class. This class will be highly interactive.
Week 4: Final Focus on Writing
This week will be the same as week 3. Some students may choose to work on a new writing or finalizing a longer, narrative blank verse poem. As with the previous class, this class will be highly interactive.
Instructor: Ray Griffin
About The Instructor:
Ray earned his BA, with honors in a double major in history and political science and a minor in German (4 hours short of a third major) from Atlantic Christian College, now Barton. He earned his MA in public administration with a minor in city and regional planning, with honors, from North Carolina State University. He has also taken post-graduate work at the University of Virginia and University of Oklahoma-Norman in high performance organization results and economic development; respectively.
After graduation, and during his tenure in local government management, he served as an adjunct professor of Political Science at Webster University and University of North Carolina-Pembroke.
Ray has been writing poetry for many decades as well as specialized, technical writing. He has written three comprehensive genealogy/family history books and has had senryu published in Prune Juice, an on-line poetry magazine. He has also published many Chap Books featuring his favorite poetry. Ray writes extensively in blank verse, tanka and Shakespearean sonnet poetic forms. These are his favorite poetic forms in which to write, particularly blank verse. Ray has been an active member, poet and member of FanStory since 2009.