Poetry Workshop II: The Sonnet Sequence

Undergraduate / Graduate

The sonnet form has a unique place in Western poetics--as a site for affective expression, formal exploration, and poetic narration. This advanced poetry workshop takes the historical tradition of the sonnet sequence--from the early modern period to contemporary avant-gardes across a range of languages and regions--as a model for serial lyric form. Authors will range from Petrarch, Dante, Sidney, and Shakespeare to Tonya Foster, Ed Roberson, and Wanda Coleman. (Please note students will *not* be required to write sonnet sequences!) Writing exercises will explore questions of lineation, recursion, seriality, and poetic narratology.