To We Or Not To We: Considerations on First Person Plural Point of View – A Lyric Question
Saturday, September 20 @ 12:30 pm ET
So much contemporary poetry centers on the “lyric I.” Since the self is already unknowable and shifting, how and when can a poet presume to speak for others, even others in their own community? In this class, we will look at poems that use “we” as a powerful tool of resistance (Charles Simic, Carolyn Forché), as thought-provoking social commentary (Ilya Kaminsky, Wislawa Szymborska), or to encourage collective unity (Ross Gay, Claudia Rankine). In direct opposition to poems that use the “colonial we,” Judith Butler interprets “we the people” as a statement that is both linguistic and embodied as a call to action. We will examine some of our own poems that might benefit from the introduction of “the lyric we” or the “imperative we” and we will discuss pitfalls to avoid while deciding to employ the first-person plural. We will read poems by Auden, Larkin, Ostriker, Kaminsky, Brown, Szymborksa, Pollock, Vang, Bang, Brock-Broido, Gluck, Doty, Simic, Forché, Farris, Smith, Bass, Laux, and Hirshfield.
Jennifer Franklin is the author of three poetry collections, including If Some God Shakes Your House (Four Way Books), finalist for the Paterson Prize and Julie Suk Award. Her work has been commissioned by The Metropolitan Museum and published in American Poetry Review, The Paris Review, “poem-a-day” on poets.org, The Nation, and Poetry Society of America’s “Poetry in Motion.” She won a Pushcart Prize, a NYFA grant, and a CRCF Award. She is cofounder and cohost of the reading series “Words Like Blades.” Her new manuscript, A FIRE IN HER BRAIN is a series of epistolary poems to Virginia Woolf, Lucia Joyce, and Sylvia Plath. She teaches in Manhattanville’s MFA program, Poets House, The Frost Place, 24Pearl Street & her own manuscript revision workshops.
Twists, Turns and Tumbles: Syntax and the Art of Poetic Surprise
Sunday, October 26 @ 12:30 pm ET
This class will explore the dynamic interplay between syntax and the element of surprise in poetry. We’ll examine how various contemporary and classic poets manipulate word order, sentence structure, and the tension between sentence and line to challenge reader’s expectations and build layers of meaning. Through close discussion of works by Emily Dickinson, Ocean Vuong, Carl Phillips, Natalie Diaz, Ross Gay, and others, participants will gain an understanding of how syntax influences pacing and tone, creates meaning, and contributes to the overall impact of a poem with a view to applying this knowledge to their own writing.
Angela Narciso Torres is the author of What Happens Is Neither (Four Way Books), Blood Orange (Willow Books Award for Poetry) and the chapbook, To the Bone (Sundress Publications). Recent work appears in Alaska Quarterly Review, 32 Poems, and Poetry Northwest. A graduate of Warren Wilson MFA Program and Harvard Graduate School of Education, Angela has received fellowships from Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Illinois Arts Council, and Ragdale Foundation. She received the Yeats Poetry Prize (W.B. Yeats Society of New York) and was named one of NewCity Magazine’s Chicago’s Lit 50. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Manila, she lives in San Diego and serves as reviews editor for RHINO.
Financial Aid
The Frost Place is committed to fostering an inclusive environment. If our class fees are incompatible with your budget, we encourage you to apply for financial aid.
Assistance is available on a first-come, first-served basis, as funds allow.
Aid may only be used for future programming and cannot be applied retroactively.