More European Forms

The requirements of each of these forms will be considered and the effect of arbitrary structure upon the content. Free versers frequently complain that they find the requirements of fixed forms restrict their creativity. The veracity or otherwise of this statement will be considered and tested as we attempt to write on the same subjects (see below) across the four forms under consideration.

The subjects will be. 1. Romance - a poem directed to the object (person or thing) of your love. 2. A 'story' - with beginning, middle and end in the same poem. 3. A matter of belief/faith or the lack of it. 4. A snapshot of an event or particular situation (this might be ekphrastic).

Week 1. (Friday) MEF 1. Introductory session - the four subjects on which we shall be writing and introduction to the Kyrielle. Assignment - Write four Kyrielles (one on each of the subjects)

Week 2. (Tuesday) MEF 2. Debrief assignments. Introduction to the Kyrielle Sonnet. Assignment - Write four Kyrielle Sonnets (one on each of the subjects).

Week 2. (Friday) MEF 3. Debrief assignments. Introduction to the Pantoum. Assignment - Write two Pantoums (on two of the subjects).

N.B. There will be no class on Tuesday 17th September as I am otherwise engaged

Week 3. (Friday) MEF 4. Debrief assignments. Further work on the Pantoum. Assignment - Write two Pantoums (on the remaining two subjects).

Week 4. (Tuesday) MEF 5. Debrief assignments. Further work on the Pantoum. Assignment - Rewrites as required.

Week 4. (Friday) MEF 6. Debrief assignments. Introduction to the Sestina. Assignment - Write a sestina on one of the selected subjects.

Week 5. (Tuesday) MEF 7. Debrief assignments. Further work on the Sestina. Assignment - Write sestinas on two of the remaining three selected subjects.

Week 5. (Friday) MEF 8. Debrief assignments. Further work on the Sestina. Assignment - Write a sestina on the remaining subject.

Week 6. (Tuesday) MEF 9. Final session. Debrief assignments. Discussion on which forms have proved most suitable for which subjects and why.


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.