Shorter Poetic Forms
Instructor: Alvin Thomas Ethington (AlvinTEthington)Includes a free two month upgraded membership! Details
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Duration: Four Weeks
Class Size: 10 Students
Seats Left: 5
Week I:
Introduction to Haiku: What is a haiku? What preconceptions do we have of haiku? What is a traditional haiku? What is a contemporary haiku? What is a postmodern haiku? What are the necessary ingredients to make a poem a haiku? Should one use illustrations with haiku?
Week II:
Senryu: What is a senryu? What is the difference between senryu and haiku? How did the senryu originate? How does the student start writing a senryu?
Week III:
Tanka: What is a tanka? How does it differ from haiku and senryu? What are its defining characteristics?
Week IV:
Cinquains: What is a cinquain? How did it originate? How does this American form relate to haiku? What are its primary characteristics?
Instructor: Alvin Thomas Ethington
About The Instructor:
Alvin Thomas Ethington (B.A. With Highest Honors, Oberlin College, 1979; M. Div. With Honors, Yale University, 1983) is a noted teacher, writer, and reviewer. He has taught at Chaffey College, Rancho Cucamonga, California and Triton College, River Grove, Illinois. He prepared community college students for study at major private and public four-year colleges and universities, including Pitzer College, Claremont, California; the University of Southern California, Los Angeles; and the University of Illinois-Chicago campus.
He is a published author and was recently honored for his haiku. His poem "haiku (empty chair)" is on the audio tour of The Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California, Poets on Site Tour.
He specializes in languages, culture, and religion. He has substituted for the Greek instructor at California State University at Fullerton and has tutored Biblical Hebrew.
He has been a member of FanStory since 2006 and has won Reviewer of the Month six times. He has also performed pre-publication editing for the former Bishop of Los Angeles, Episcopal (The Rt. Rev. Frederick Houk Borsch) and reviewed college textbooks.
His philosophy on teaching comes from his work as a counselor--he believes that teaching should be student-centered and designs his courses according to the students' needs.