| POETRY COURSE IN NINE CHAPTERS |
| P O E T I C O N |
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- Chapter One: Introduction to poetry. Defining poetry. The history and evolution of poetry. Tradition
transitions. The different periods or movements of poetry (classical, neo-classical, romantic, avante-
garde, etc.). - Chapter Two: The Basics. What makes a poem a poem? Basic parts of a poem. Understanding the
basic structure of a poem. Choosing a subject. What will your poem be about? Point of view. Poetic style.
How will you tell your story. - Chapter Three: Advanced poetic techniques. Making the connection. Language. Avoiding vague
language. Figures of speech. Figures of sound. Emotion. Techniques for making your poem better.
Three types of irony. - Chapter Four: The building blocks of poetic form. Rhythm and rhyme. A form looking for a subject. The
foundation of form. Identifying groups of rhyming lines. - Chapter Five: The subtle art of meter. Metrical lines and scansion. Shortcuts and pauses. Enjambment.
- Chapter Six: Stanzaic form. Stacking the blocks. Rhyming stanzas.
- Chapter Seven: Forms of poetic expression. Finding your poetic voice. What is form? 10 Important forms
all poets should know (ballad, blank verse, couplet, free verse, haiku, pantoum, prose poem, sonnet,
terza rima, and villanelle). - Chapter Eight: Revision and Critique. Writers revise. Eleven tools for revision and critique. Seven Deadly
Sins. Grammar and Punctuation. Commonly misused words. - Chapter Nine: Submitting work for publication.
| Learning to rhyme is like learning a new language. It takes practice, practice, and more practice to master it. ---edmpoet |
| Free verse may rule the publications, but rhyme still rules the general public. |
| Rhyme takes free verse three steps above ordinary prose, which is two steps behind blank verse. |
| There are four progressive levels to writing: prose, free verse, blank verse, and rhyme, in that order. |
| Always given a choice, I'd rather rhyme than free verse. |