Class Description
In this class, we’ll explore the craft of narrative poetry—poems that tell stories–and various ways to build lines and employ poetry tools while also cultivating compelling narratives and plots. We’ll look at structural devices, tension building techniques, voice and time in sample narrative poems and verse novel chapters. Then, using prompts created from our narrative explorations, participants will begin drafting new narrative poems or verse novel chapters to be shared in class for brief workshop feedback.
Along the way, we will study the narrative poems of Jason Reynolds, Marilyn Nelson, Gary Soto, Naomi Shihab Nye, Steven Herrick, Nikki Grimes, Li-Young Lee, Garrett Hongo, Rajani LaRocca, Margarita Engle, Richard Blanco, Kip Wilson, and others.
Writing Roadmap: We've created a simple, goal-based writing roadmap to help you find the perfect GrubStreet course for your writing needs.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.