Writing Poetry - ENG00166M

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Module summary

This module offers a space to develop your poetic practice in relation to key figures and approaches in contemporary poetry. Weekly 2-hour sessions will include discussion of assigned reading and critical ideas around poetry writing alongside peer feedback workshops. The module is for students with any level of prior experience in creative writing who want to develop their poetry craft and deepen their understanding of contemporary poetic practices.

The first half of the module provides a ‘toolkit’ for reading and writing poetry, with weekly topics such as Image, Sound, Place, and the Self. These sessions will be split between seminar-like discussion and workshopping of student drafts. Following a Reading & Writing week with no scheduled class, weekly sessions in the second half of the module will each begin with a focused discussion of a contemporary poetry collection or anthology, followed by more intensive workshops, with students sharing up to 3 pages of new work for discussion. Students on the module will be put into a rota with assigned weeks for submission, to ensure everyone receives useful feedback across the semester. 

For the assessment, students submit a portfolio that includes a selection of original poetry, along with a short critical essay on a recent poetry collection.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 1 2026-27

Module aims

This module aims to deepen your understanding and knowledge of contemporary poetry and poetic practice, to expose you to a diverse range of contemporary poetry, to develop your ability to reflect critically on poetry and poetic practice, and to develop your skills in writing poetry.

Module learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, you should be able to:

1. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of and engagement with key conventions in the writing of poetry.

2. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of and engagement with key techniques in poetry, including the use of form, imagery, and language.

3. Evaluate key debates within the field of contemporary poetry, and engage with them through the production of a body of original work.

4. Produce written work which demonstrates an advanced proficiency in creative and critical thinking, research, and writing skills.

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

You will hand in an essay of 1,400-1,600 words in Week 6 of Semester 1 for the Postgraduate Life in Practice module. The main purpose of the essay is to ensure that the department can identify those students who may require additional assistance with academic writing skills.  Material from this essay may be re-visited in either one of the January essays or the dissertation. It is therefore an early chance to work through material that might be used in assessed work. The title topic of the essay, like the title topic of all assessed work for the degree, is left open to the individual student.

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Module feedback

You will receive feedback on all assessed work within the University deadline, and will often receive it more quickly. The purpose of feedback is to inform your future work; it is designed to help you to improve your work, and the Department also offers you help in learning from your feedback. If you do not understand your feedback or want to talk about your ideas further you can discuss it with your module tutor, the MA Convenor or your supervisor, during their Feedback and Consultation Hours.

Indicative reading

• Kathryn Nurenberger and Maya Jewell Zeller, Advanced Poetry: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury, 2023).

• Jane Commane and Jo Bell, How to Be a Poet: A 21st Century Guide to Writing Well (Nine Arches Press, 2017).

• Mary Ruefle, Madness, Rack, and Honey (Wave Books, 2012)

• Maureen McLane, My Poets (Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 2013) and/or My Poetics (University of Chicago Press, 2024).

• Stephanie Burt, Don’t Read Poetry: A Book About How to Read Poetry (Basic Books, 2019).

• Dean Young, The Art of Recklessness: Poetry as an Assertive Force and Contradiction (Graywolf, 2010).

• Jeremy Noel-Tod (ed.), The Penguin Book of the Prose Poem: From Baudelaire to Anne Carson (Penguin, 2019).

 

also

some single-author collections

another recent anthology?

lots of individual poems (don’t need to list)

 

• Jericho Brown (ed.) How We Do It: Black Writers on Craft, Practice, and Skill (Amistad, 2023)

• Terrance Hayes,. Watch Your Language: Visual and Literary Reflections on a Century of American Poetry (Penguin, 2023)

• Carl Phillips, The Art of Daring: Risk, Restlessness, Imagination (Graywolf Press, 2014).

• Rishi Dastidar (ed.), The Craft: A Guide to Making Poetry Happen in the 21st Century (Nine Arches Press, 2019)

• The Forward Book of Poetry (various editions, Faber).

• The Best American Poetry (various editions, Scribner).

• Kwame Alexander (ed.), This is the Honey, An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets (Little Brown, 2024).