Poetic Devices Free Verse

'Poets of FanStory unite. You have nothing to lose but your forms!'

This misquotation of Marx/Engels in the Communist Manifesto heralds my class on the subject of free verse which will run from
Saturday 25th September 2021 probably on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 5.00 to 6.00pm ending on Saturday 23rd October 2021.

That opening sentence may sound odd from one who has recently been involved in running a class on Modern Sonnets. Nevertheless I propose to go, with as many as will, on a voyage of discovery into the realms of free verse, where I hope we shall find buried treasure.

Whether you are already, exclusively a writer of free verse, or one who believes that it is yet another form available to poets as required, or even if you have never tried it before, this has to be the class for you. Rather than draw up a detailed syllabus of what will be covered in which session, I present, in the box below, a list of topics, which may be added to from time to time, that we will be considering during our nine classroom sessions over the period of the class.

We now have the benefit of Zoom in the classroom which has already proved to be a great boon when discussing a variety of poetic topics. The da-DUMs, with which many of you will be familiar, take on a whole new meaning when you can actually hear them used with real words.

'But surely we are free of all that! This is a free verse class!' I hear you exclaim. Well 'free' does not only mean 'free from'; it can mean 'free to...' Free perhaps to use it as you wish, not necessarily as some long dead, white, male poet said you must. That has to be an exciting idea.

'And what about rhyme?'

Look. Why don't you sign up and find out. If you enjoy writing, reading and discussing poetry, you will enjoy this class. I promise.

Perhaps that misquotation should have read, 'Poets of FanStory unite. You have nothing to lose but your misconceptions!'

One of those misconceptions could be that these classes are very expensive. For one lucky participant however they need not be. A scholarship covering the entire cost of this class is available. If you are interested in competing for this award go to Social - Clubs - Poetry Scholarships, where you will find registration instructions.

There are two scholarships to be awarded for this class. If you wish to apply for one of these, do not sign up here but go to Social - Clubs and scroll down to Poetry Scholarships and click on the title to get the instructions for applying.

Areas of Interest in the Context of Free Verse.

First Session

Definition.

Layout, presentation, punctuation and overall length.

Thereafter we are free to go where we wish in this list.

You will be writing in free verse throughout, but each exercise will highlight in particular the contribution made by one or more of the poetic devices from the following list.

Rhythm
Rhyme, near/slant rhyme and assonance
Alliteration and Consonance
Onomatopoeia
Repetition
Imagery
Personification
Imagery
The Prose poem
Shape or Concrete Poetry




Instructor: James Bartlett

About The Instructor: Jim Bartlett is an ex-Royal Marine Officer, and retired teacher, with a good honours degree in Education, and English and Drama, from London University. He has been a member of a local poetry group in South Wales where he currently lives alone in a redundant farm house.

Jim started writing while serving with 45 Commando, Royal Marines in Aden in the mid 1960s. At that time he was writing mainly song lyrics but later moved on to poetry after studying it on his degree course, which he undertook as a mature student between 1972 and 1976.

He has been published in poetry magazines and newspapers from time to time. In 2005 he produced a CD of self-penned songs under the title of "Tomorrow Never Comes", and published a poetry collection of thirty-six poems in 2012 entitled, "Triple Dozen" prior to joining FanStory in March 2015. His songs and poems have won several competitions.

Jim has also lectured on English Folk Lore and Song for the WEA in SE London in the late 1970s. He was urged to enrol as an instructor on FanStory by many who found his reviews of their poetry particularly helpful.