Understanding poetry

Whatever its period or mood, reading a poem means dealing with its craft: rhyme and rhythm, choice of words and syntax, form and layout – and how they work together. This course explores all these elements, drawing on poets of all kinds and poetry of every period from the Renaissance to the 21st century. This is a 10 session course and must be taken with W110Am04 in week 1.

Aims

This course aims to: 

1. Introduce students to the craft of poetry;
2. Detail and exemplify the elements of that craft; and
3. Show those elements at work in a wide range of poetry

Content

Whatever else it may be, poetry is always a craft. Rhythm and rhyme, the shaping of lines into a larger form, the choice of words and images, the shape on the page – all demand every poet’s careful attention, and reward every reader. 

This course, suitable for anyone wishing to understand poetry better, looks at every element of the poet’s craft. Taking examples (in a course booklet provided) from every century since the 16th, but concentrating on the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, we will in turn look at (and listen to) metre, form, layout, punctuation, lineation, rhyme, diction and syntax, as well as larger considerations of history, biography, and gender. As well as thinking about each element individually, we will ask how they interconnect – for a poet’s regional accent may affect their choices of rhyme; the demands of rhyme must affect the choice of words; and the punctuation-marks and line-breaks, like lines (as units of form) and clauses (as units of grammar), necessarily march in step or play tag with one another.

Recorded readings and comments by TS Eliot, Sylvia Plath, Theodore Roethke, Robert Lowell, Hugh MacDiarmid, Robert Graves, and Kamau Brathwaite, as well as the actors James Mason and Richard Burton, will also be used. Not all poets are good readers-aloud of their own work, but to hear their voices and phrasing is always helpful, sometimes revelatory, and Burton was a superb reader whose renditions both thrill and illuminate.

By the end of the course, even experienced readers of poetry will find their understandings enlarged and transformed. Those who write poetry, whether formal or free verse, will also benefit from a clearer understanding of their tools, both in composing and revising. Those facing exams involving poetry will know they need never be at a loss for critical observations. And those for whom poetry seems dry will discover just how much fun, and how powerful, it can be.

Presentation of the course

Each session will begin with 30-40 minutes of explanation and analysis, using the course booklet, before opening to q-and-a and wider discussion. Recordings of poems, by the poets or by actors, will sometimes be used. For the final session, students will be invited to nominate poems for consideration by all.

Class sessions

1. Metre: the formal shaping of rhythm, and its modulation by the speaking voice.
2. Form: the internal and external meanings of stanza-forms and modes of poetry.
3. Layout: every poem must be on a page; how should it be displayed ?
4. Punctuation: the marks, spaces, cases, & faces that articulate and disambiguate syntax.
5. Lineation: poetry’s distinctive unit of form, always playing tag with grammar.
6. Rhyme: defining the consonance of sound, and the ranges of dissonance.
7. Diction: so many words, so little room — English has a vast vocabulary for poets to play with.
8. Syntax: the control of order, especially critical in analytic English.
9. History, biography, and gender: the contexts of poets’ lives and how they do/n’t matter.
10. Poetry redux: the whole of the craft — a plenary session.

Learning outcomes

The learning outcomes for this course are:

1. To understand poetry as a craft;
2. To gain a basic understanding of each major tool of that craft;
3. To gain a wider awareness of both historical and contemporary practices of poetry.

Required reading:

Lennard, John. The Poetry Handbook: A Guide to Reading Poetry for Pleasure and Practical Criticism. Second edition, Oxford University Press, 2006

Typical week: Monday to Friday

Courses run from Monday to Friday. For each week of study, you select a morning (Am) course and an afternoon (Pm) course. The maximum class size is 25 students. 

Courses are complemented by a series of daily plenary lectures, exploring new ideas in a wide range of disciplines. To add to the learning experience, we are also planning additional evening talks and events.

Evaluation and Academic Credit 

If you are seeking to enhance your own study experience, or earn academic credit from your Cambridge Summer Programme studies at your home institution, you can submit written work for assessment for one or more of your courses. 

Essay questions are set and assessed against the University of Cambridge standard by your Course Director, a list of essay questions can be found in the Course Materials. Essays are submitted two weeks after the end of each course, so those studying for multiple weeks need to plan their time accordingly. There is an evaluation fee of £75 per essay.

For more information about writing essays see Evaluation and Academic Credit.

Certificate of attendance

A certificate of attendance will be sent to you electronically after the programme.