The Poetry Collection [Janie Miller]

If a poem is a mystery, then a collection of poetry is an enigmatic puzzle; a mystical weaving of associations, ideas, themes, images, and words. We’ll examine six contemporary, Pulitzer Prize–nominated poetry collections including Sharon Olds’s, Ted Kooser’s, and Tracy K. Smith’s, learning the organization of each book and what binds each collection together: beginnings and endings, the often–muddy middle, narrative arcs, and theme development, including universal vs. personal themes. We’ll organize a mini-collection of our own poems and, for the final class, workshop them lovingly and critically.

No class Nov. 26