Confessional Poetry 4-Week Workshop, Starts Monday, April 7th, 2025
Class Starts Monday, April 7th, 2025
Now Enrolling
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Led by Holly Lyn Walrath, a writer, editor, and publisher. Her poetry and short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Fireside Fiction, Analog, and Flash Fiction Online. She is the author of several books of poetry including Glimmerglass Girl (2018), Numinose Lapidi (2020), and The Smallest of Bones (2021). She holds a Master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Denver. In 2019, she launched Interstellar Flight Press, an indie SFF publisher dedicated to publishing underrepresented genres and voices.
Where does the line between poet and poem blur? The poetry of Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Robert Lowell, Randall Jarrell, and Elizabeth Bishop in the 60s, 70s, and 80s became iconic for its controversial use of the “confessional voice.” This genre has arguably shaped contemporary poetry today.
In this workshop, we’ll explore what it means to write a confessional poem, but also, how poets can harness personal experience to reach an ideal reader.
This workshop juxtaposes classical confessional poetry with contemporary poets who have harnessed the power of trauma to make the private public. Break down barriers, write with authenticity, and embrace the catharsis of confession.
Course Outline:
Week 1: Owning the Personal Story
Week 2: The “I” Voice and the Power of Self-Insert Poetry
Week 3: Shame, Trauma, and Sensitivity
Week 4: Sequencing and the Confessional Poetry Collection
Course Takeaways:
- Learn about the history of confessional poetry as a genre
- Read contemporary bestselling confessional poets
- Write poems inspired by personal experience
- Explore the power of authenticity and catharsis
- Receive feedback in a safe and understanding environment
ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:
This class is asynchronous, meaning you complete the weekly assignments on your own schedule. There are no set meeting times in order to allow for greater participation; your cohort will consist of writers from across different time zones, which allows for a wonderful diversity of voices.
Along with your weekly deadlines, there is plenty of interaction with Holly and your peers within Wet Ink, our dedicated online classroom. Craft materials, lectures, reading assignments, and writing prompts are all available through the online classroom. Students also post work and provide and receive feedback within the online classroom environment.
You can finish the work as you see fit week-to-week, which is perfect for any schedule. There are discussion questions each week inspired by the assigned readings and topics in the lecture notes. Students are encouraged to take these wherever is most compelling and/or useful for them. Holly engages with these discussions throughout the week, and you will receive feedback from all assigned writing activities.
HOW DOES WET INK WORK?
Wet Ink was built and designed specifically for online writing classes. Wet Ink is private, easy to use, and very interactive. You can learn more about the Wet Ink platform by Watching a Class Demo.
ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:
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Instructor: Holly Lyn Walrath
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Starts Monday, April 7th, 2025
- Course is fully ONLINE; students can work according to their own schedule within weekly deadlines. Once you have enrolled, the instructor will send you a link to our online classroom, which is provided via Wet Ink.