Understanding the Power of Poetry

The third in the new program seminar series will consist of fifteen sessions beginning January 18 2005, and is titled: Understanding the Power of Poetry. The series is presented by Joanne Townsend, Poet Laureate of Alaska.

Joanne describes her plans for the course as follows.

    "I believe a class in understanding contemporary poetry would be an excellent addition to our Fellowship's religious education. I think this quote from Christian Wiman, the current editor of the long established and much revered journal, Poetry, says it best and fits in with our UU principles: Let us remember ...that in the end we go to poetry for one reason, so that we might more fully inhabit our lives and the world in which we live them, and that if we more fully inhabit these things, we might be less apt to destroy both.
   My class would primarily focus on writers of the past fifty years, both English speaking and those who come to us in translation from Eastern Europe, Central and South America, Africa and many regions beyond our country's borders. In the first few classes I will cover sound, sense, literary conventions, and free verse. I would like to offer this as a 15 session class divided into 3 units of five weeks each with a break in between units. For poetry, this would work better than meeting every other week. There needs to be a fee charged because I will be using considerable handouts. If this is not advisable, I could put a basket out at each class and ask participants to contribute something for the handout expense. There will be a course outline and suggested reading list" and for each unit a calendar of what we will cover at each meeting. This gives me a chance to adjust the later sessions to the group's interests."