Measure for Measure: Writing the Contemporary Sonnet and Villanelle

This three-hour course will explore the history, techniques, and contemporary versions of the sonnet and villanelle. Perhaps the most well-known of poetry’s received forms, the sonnet (both the Petrarchan and Shakespearean versions) has been written by poets for hundreds of years. This tradition continues in contemporary poetry, as award-winning poets like Jared Carter, Allison Joseph, Patricia Smith, and others continue to write sonnets and include them in their collections. Another popular verse form, the villanelle, is a nineteen line poem that relies on the repeated use of a refrain. The villanelle “circles round and round, refusing to go forward in any kind of linear development, and so suggesting at the deepest level, powerful recurrences of mood and emotion and memory.” Contemporary poets such as Sherman Alexie, Denise Duhamel, and Tracy K Smith have composed their own villanelles to add to this long and rich tradition. This course will help you learn how to appreciate, understand, and write your own sonnets and villanelles.