Week 1

To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme? You will learn all standard rhyme schemes, as well as external and internal rhyme.

Week 2

You've Got the Rhythm. Or Not. You will investigate patterns of meter and rhythm.

Week 3

Quatrains and Couplets. Time to format your lines of work. Quatrains and couplets are the basic building blocks of most formal poems.

Week 4

Sonnets, Shakespearean and Elizabethan. You will learn to craft two beautiful forms of the sonnet.

Week 5

Blank Verse. Now that you know the structure, you can experiment with no rhyme, except the rhymes of the heart and mind. 

Week 6

Free Verse. And the ultimate freedom is yours, no rhyme, no defined patterns. Only you. "Singing in the Wilderness. Ah, Wilderness." -- Eugene O''Neill.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SAMPLE LESSON WEEK 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Welcome to Poetry for Dreamers and Non-Dreamers. I have a request to make. Please leave your uncertainty at the door and enter with a creative heart! You are welcome in the realm of the Muse. Here, you will learn to write a sonnet to perfection.

You will be a poet.

Sonnets are written about love and life. They have several basic rhyme schemes. A rhyme scheme is a pattern, with each line ending in a coordinating rhyme. Such as:

I saw you in a dream.
You were in my heart.
We used to be a team,
But now we are apart.

Corny, I know. But it's a non-copyrighted example for purposes of instruction. :)

The rhyme scheme of the example is
a
b
a
b.

The first and third lines rhyme, and the second and fourth lines rhyme.

There are two kinds of sonnets, both consist of 14 lines each. One is the Shakespearean and the second is the Petrarchan. The English, or Shakespearean sonnet, has the rhyme scheme of abab, cdcd, efef, gg, in the form of 3 quatrains (a grouping of 4 lines) and 1 couplet (a grouping of 2 lines).

The Petrarchan, or Italian sonnet, like the ones Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote to her lover, Robert Browning, and from the gossip they were a very romantic couple, usually has a rhyme scheme of abbaabba in the first part of 8 lines called the octave or octet, and xyzxyz or xyxyxy in the last part of 6 lines called the sestet.

For your first assignment, I'd like you to write one English sonnet and one Italian sonnet about love or life or both.

Do your best work, even if these are the first bits of poetry you've ever written. Please email them to me, and I will return them to you with my comments. Don't worry. Think about my corny example. I know you can do better than that! Then we can move on to the second part of Lesson One, internal and external rhyme.

So, curl up in your favorite chair with a pen and paper. Imagine yourself writing poetry to the person of your dreams. And remember, you can say anything in a poem, and it can never be held against you! Your excuse? You were swept away by the Muse!