The Miracle of Prose Poetry: Baudelaire and beyond
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- Start Date: 17 May 2025End Date: 17 May 2025Sat (Daytime): 10:00 - 13:00OnlineFull fee £29.00 Senior fee £23.00 Concession £19.00
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What is the course about?
This online literature course takes us to the heart of the prose poem, from its genesis in nineteenth-century French poetry to contemporary practitioners of the form. For who has not imagined ‘the miracle of a poetic prose, musical though rhythmless and rhymeless, flexible yet strong enough to identify with the lyrical impulses of the soul, the ebbs and flows of revery, the pangs of conscience?’, questions the French poet Charles Baudelaire (in Francis Scarfe’s translation). Through a range of texts and examples, we will consider what sets prose poetry apart from flash fiction and other kinds of poetry, and explore the ‘miraculous’ qualities of the form.
What will we cover?
We will read prose poems from across time periods, including poems by French writers such as Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud, and a selection of poems by modern and contemporary writers. French poems will be studied in translation, and all poems will be provided during the session.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
- Identify the characteristics of prose poetry
- Understand the history and evolution of the prose poem form
- Practice close reading skills on a range of poems.
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
No previous literary study is required, just an interest in poetry and a willingness to discuss the texts and listen to the views of others.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
You will be taught through a mixture of tutor presentation, group discussion, small group activities, and close reading and analysis.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
The tutor will supply digital materials comprising the set reading.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
This tutor will also be teaching the online course, HLT358 Poetry: Fixity and Flux in June. For other poetry courses please see our website at www.citylit.ac.uk under History, Culture and Writing/Literature/Poetry.
Suzannah V. Evans is a poet based in Bristol. She is the author of Brightwork and Marine Objects / Some Language (Guillemot Press, 2021 and 2020), and the editor of All Keyboards are Legitimate: Versions of Jules Laforgue (Guillemot Press, 2023). A selection of her work appears in the anthology New Poetries VIII (Carcanet, 2021). Her poetry has been broadcast on BBC Radio, performed at international festivals, and awarded a Northern Writers’ Award and the Ivan Juritz Prize for Creative Experiment. She completed her PhD in modern poetry at Durham University.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.