Free Course available through Open University – What is Poetry?

Free Course available through Open University – What is Poetry?

Have you ever wondered what poetry actually is? No? Well why would you? But if you have ever pondered this in a sudden rush of existentialist angst, then the good news is that there is a free course available via the Open University that will attempt to answer the question.

Whilst there, there is also the opportunity to get an overview of techniques built into the formation and execution of the art form that is poetry. It wasn’t so long ago that I hadn’t the foggiest in terms of pulling together a decent poem. Many will say that little has changed. The truth is that I only managed to approach anything like a coherent competency when it comes to stuff like this from reading and analysing the excellent poets lurking on every street corner at ABCTales. Otherwise, I would still be cranking out faux Shakespearean guff full of words like ‘doth’ and ‘forsooth’.

A while ago I wrote about a free course available that focused on entry level creative writing. In a curious, almost pathological desire for symmetry, I wanted to do the same for poetry. So discovering parallel OU training made me happy. Being the altruistic soul that I am, I thought I would share my findings with you all.

Having been banging out poems for a few years now, it felt like a good time to pause and look at some teaching material that would take me back to basics (not a long journey).

Someone on here said once that the best prose is written by authors with a talent for poetry. I would go along with that. I think the two things go hand in hand but, equally, can be mutually exclusive. There are many people that do one or the other very successfully without doing both.

Like all good courses, this one starts with the learning outcomes expected from approximately 12 hours of study. Namely:

• understand the common techniques underlying free verse and traditional forms of poetry

• identify personal experiences that can be used when writing poems

• understand the basic terminology and practical elements of poetry.

There are 10 sections to navigate: What is poetry? An introduction, Forming the form, What is poetry? Impersonation and imagination, Poetic techniques, Rhyme, Other rhyming techniques, Stress and rhythm, Meter and Hold that space!

So was it any good? Well, yes.

As you would expect, it’s a basic taster course designed to lure you into trying more in depth learning that comes with a financial cost. On this occasion, this is a sample of Level 1 study in Arts and Humanities.

The things that work well are:

It’s interactive. There are audios to listen to and activities to work through so that you aren’t simply passively reading content which doesn’t tend to stick. The very first activity involves listening to poets Jackie Kay and W.N. Herbert speculate about ‘the purpose of poetry’. I liked the notion of capturing moments rather than narrating stories that came across when hearing expert views (I haven’t heard of any of the specialists named in this course but then I’m a philistine).  

There are plenty of techniques disclosed about how to write a poem. It’s emphasised that there is no set way to pen a poem. It could be a ballad or a sonnet, free form or rhyming. Either way, it pays to understand the different types of poem that can be written and the constituent elements that go into forming the poem.

There’s an important distinction made between inspiration and perspiration. W.N. Herbert, Paul Muldoon and Jackie Kay talk about inspiration coming from effort and hard work along with not overreaching on getting across meanings in a poem. We are told not to sit there waiting for a divine wind to blow into us and spark creativity. My uncle who had a successful career in the Royal Navy always talks about learning being 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. In this course, it cites 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration but the message is the same (trust my uncle to exaggerate). Nothing comes easily and, if it does, it may not be worth having!

There’s clarity about what might go into a poem. In his lovely, lilting Irish accent, Paul Muldoon states that a poet should only be looking for one or maybe one and a half meanings in a poem rather than any more than that. Don’t overcomplicate it. Jackie Kay suggests reading lots and lots of other poets’ work. In particular, contemporary poets. I would agree with this. Also, it adds another dimension hearing a poem read out by its author. There are poetry meetings taking place everywhere. Notwithstanding, reading is learning and we can never do enough.

The reader gets to understand perspective and its importance. A poet can choose and invent another voice changing how something is written. The known and familiar become altered or invented. Distancing from what the writer is and who they are can be liberating and enlightening, we are told. Using imagination and impersonation can be a powerful way of making poems more interesting.

Finally, there are examples of poetry that enrich the experience and expose the student to what good might look like. Excerpts included are Selling Manhattan by Carol Ann Duffy and Cow by Selima Hill which underpin learning and bring it to life. For the record, I am familiar with these poets so maybe I’m not a total philistine after all (I’m reaching, I know)

Maybe things that don’t work so well:

The technical aspects can come across a bit tedious. Near or half rhymes, assonant rhyme and alliteration are all relevant but a little dry in the grand scheme of things. Stressed and unstressed syllables will come naturally with enough work; feet including iamb, trochee, anapest, dactyl and spondee sound like Hungarian villages. I guess it’s like anything else, you need to know what the parts are called to put together the Airfix model if you will forgive the rudimentary analogy.   

In conclusion, you will get a statement of participation on completion of the course and hopefully come away armed to the gills with knowledge and a new found enthusiasm. You might be new to poetry or looking for a refresh if you have experience of penning poems; either way, study time can be me time and this won’t cost you a red cent.

Hopefully, someone out there will find this useful. If not, don’t blame me if you are still cribbing a sixteenth century Bard with poems that nobody can understand. You know it makes sense.

You will need to register with the Open University and the course can be found at:

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/literature/what-poetry/content-section-0?intro=1