From caesura to the open mouth, a history of silence in poetry, how to 'build it in', how to create it . . . this course examines the pause. Despite there being no such thing as absolute silence - this is a poetic metaphor in itself - our work will be inspired by poets who use parsity: Lee Harwood and his textual blanks, where the reader can fill in their own thoughts, for example, to the singular placing and spacing of poetry by Basho. Across eight weeks we will evolve a history of silence, by working chronologically from Homeric silences to quietude in Alice Oswald and work to build a collection brimming with the soundless.
 
This is a three week online course. When you choose to buy this course, we will contact you after purchase to arrange a time to begin which suits you. You can choose between annotated responses to your poems sent to you via email, or live discussion via google hangouts (a gmail email is free and easy to sign up for).