Writing the Great Poem

(EGL 171 W)

In this course, we will experiment with a variety of poetic forms, searching for the poetic style that best expresses your individual voice. We will also discuss the fundamental differences between lyric, narrative, formal, and free verse poetry, looking for the form best suited to your subject matter. Extensive instructor feedback and group workshops will guide and support each writer through the revision process. Reading will focus on 20th-century masters, including Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, John Ashbery, Louise Gluck, and Mark Doty. By the end of the course, each student will have developed a portfolio of poems, which we will use to discuss venues for publication, identifying literary journals and magazines whose aesthetics are the best match for your work. Writers of all levels are welcome.

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Laura McKee, Former Stegner Fellow

Laura McKee received an MFA from the University of Maryland and a 2006 scholarship to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She has taught creative writing internationally, in countries including South Korea, Germany, and the Netherlands. Currently she teaches literature and writing classes to US military service personnel stationed overseas through the University of Maryland – Europe. McKee’s writing has appeared in Indiana Review, New South, Poetry Miscellany, Mantis, and TheRumpus.net.