Writing Alongside Emily Dickinson [Deborah Woodard]
In this class, we’ll learn from a poet whose popular image obscured her experiments in tone, diction, ellipsis; her audacity of metaphor; and her ability to rework the worn ballad meters of Protestant hymnals and break them into shards that approach free verse. Is Emily Dickinson America’s most radical poet? We’ll ponder this point and challenge our own writing practice, as we study and respond to poems from all phases of Dickinson’s most private of careers. The instructor will hold optional private conferences on the last weekend of the class to discuss a short portfolio of poems.
Required texts will be available at the Elliott Bay Book Company:
Thomas H. Johnson, editor, Final Harvest: Emily Dickinson’s Poems (Little, Brown, 1961)
Thomas H. Johnson, editor, Emily Dickinson: Selected Letters (Belknap/Harvard, 1986).
No class June 7.
FAQ
Complete FAQMost classes are offered at a general and member tuition rates based on instruction hours, with Hugo House members receiving a 10% discount on classes fewer than six sessions.
Early bird discounts are available during the first two weeks of registration and apply to both general and member tuition rates.
To help provide financial accessibility to our class offerings, some classes each quarter are offered with a sliding-scale tuition model, allowing students to pay what they can for the class. For these classes, tuition increments starting at $5 and going up to 125% of the standard pricing will be listed on the page.
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Class sessions may be recorded if a session falls on a holiday, or if a student has access needs. Class recordings are not guaranteed.
We do not tolerate racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist, transphobic or any other oppressive behaviors, regardless of who commits them. Please check out our full community guidelines by clicking here. If an instance of community guidelines are violated and not resolved within the classroom, students may let us know by filling out the student incident report.
Classes may be cancelled if less than the minimum number of students are enrolled within ten days before the class start date. If Hugo House needs to cancel a class for any reason, students can choose between receiving a full credit toward future classes or full refund.
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