We will discuss the rules of Anglo-Saxon alliterative poetic composition, some of the other stylistic conventions, and some of the themes it was used in period to address. Towards the end of the first hour, we will pause to try and write poems.
This class covers basic terminology and the building blocks of poetry. After reviewing a few basic terms, we will discuss basic forms including couplets, tercets, quatrains, quintains, sestets, septets, sonnets and some of their variations.
Storytelling is the fabric of our lives, but to be able to tell a good story and keep your audiences attention well there in lies the rub. In this workshop we will go over the basics of the well-told story. Bring a story you are working on.
The 11th-14th centuries were a powerful time in the world of medieval French poetry. The troubadours, from the South of France and the trouvères, from the North of France, were poet-musicians who created a genre of poetry that would become a courtly tradition. The trobairitz were the female troubadours and were mighty in their own right. Much of this genre of poetry was centered around the themes of courtly love, love and betrayal. In this class we will examine the forms used by all three groups, the ideals of courtly love, and how politics and religion found their way into this lyric form of poetry.