This is an in-person workshop that takes place at Inprint House.

Educators can earn up to 8 CPE credit hours

Harnessing the Power of Rhythm and Sound in Poetry

What makes a line of poetry sing? Why do the most memorable sentences, apart from their literal meanings, feel so immersive, rich? Often it comes down to the way a writer works with the materiality of language, attending not only to what the words mean but to how they sound and move together. Whether the language sighs like the wind in the lull of a summer afternoon or screeches like train wheels as they grind against their tracks, whether it evanesces into the serenity of dawn or heaves with the rage of a thunderstorm, the visceral aspects of language work in tandem with imagery, creating aesthetic effects that cannot be reduced to rational meaning or conveyed in any other words.

In this workshop we will attune our ears to the power of verbal music by focusing on two of the most intensely sensuous components of language: rhythm and sound. Through examples from poets such as James Merrill, Amy Clampitt, Ada Limón, Terrance Hayes, and Angie Estes, we will see how writers compose so that their language becomes not only a means to communicate but an aesthetic experience in itself, brimming with sensory presence and lyrical resonance. We will alternate our discussions with generative writing exercises—some of them solitary, some collaborative—and on the second day we will discuss your work, exchanging guided feedback and contemplating how rhythm and sound can shape not only our creative work but everything we write.