Class

Writing About Loss

This is a class about elegies. It is intended for poets who write about loss, and who would like to workshop recent work in a supportive environment.

As poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz writes, "the true subject of poetry is the loss of the beloved." This class will consider the different poems that emerge from different losses, as well as the many kinds of beloved that can be lost.

At the start of the class, we will read work by some contemporary elegists who take innovative approaches to this longstanding art form. Poets to be considered include Donald Hall, Michael Harper, Natasha Trethewey, and Matt Rasmussen. Drawing upon the strategies found in these model poems, we’ll think about new ways to write about loss.

We will then consider your own poems. We should be able to read, ruminate upon, and respond to one poem from each student. Students should bring these works in progress to the class. Each student will receive oral feedback from their peers, as well as detailed written feedback from me.