Rhyme & Metre in Free Ver

In free verse both rhyme and Metre can be used when you, the poet , wish. This way they become real tools of the trade rather than constraints within which you are forced to work.

We will be looking at free verse selected by yourselves as well as that selected by me, learning to identify metrical and rhyming patterns, and discussing reasons for their use. All of this with the purpose of improving the poetic quality of your own writing.

This class will be led largely by your own creations, so the subjects to be covered will depend very much on what class members present in their assignments. The following areas will be investigated.

Week 1: types of rhyme and Metre and how they can be used in free verse poetry.

Week 2: Too much or too regular? Addressing this problem.

Week 3: "Just words on the page!" How to turn ideas into free verse poetry

Week 4: Layout and presentation of free verse -- concealing the metre.

There will be two sessions of one hour each week on Tuesdays and Fridays starting at 05.00pm EST. It is unlikely that everyone will be able to attend every session and one to one catch-up meetings are possible. All sessions are recorded and recordings can be forwarded to those unable to attend. There will be no session on Tuesday 20th March.

would all those signing up for this course please send me an email to:

jambar1941.jb@gmail.com

This should state the type of machine you will be working from, e.g. PC, Mac, Android etc. so I can send you the correct instructions for accessing the software we use to communicate with each other.


Instructor: James Bartlett

About The Instructor: Jim Bartlett is an ex-Royal Marine Officer, and retired teacher, with a good honours degree in Education, and English and Drama, from London University. He has been a member of a local poetry group in South Wales where he currently lives alone in a redundant farm house.

Jim started writing while serving with 45 Commando, Royal Marines in Aden in the mid 1960s. At that time he was writing mainly song lyrics but later moved on to poetry after studying it on his degree course, which he undertook as a mature student between 1972 and 1976.

He has been published in poetry magazines and newspapers from time to time. In 2005 he produced a CD of self-penned songs under the title of "Tomorrow Never Comes", and published a poetry collection of thirty-six poems in 2012 entitled, "Triple Dozen" prior to joining FanStory in March 2015. His songs and poems have won several competitions.

Jim has also lectured on English Folk Lore and Song for the WEA in SE London in the late 1970s. He was urged to enrol as an instructor on FanStory by many who found his reviews of their poetry particularly helpful.