We had a ball last night in workshop. We started out discussing villanelles and sestinas, studying "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" (Dylan Thomas), a villanelle, and Pound's "Altaforte," a sestina. Then I asked the class whether they wanted to write a collective sestina with words we chose as a group or a villanelle, individually. They chose sestina. The resulting poem was not wonderful and made little sense (though it had its moments) but we really laughed and felt close. I think we all learned a lot about the form. Then I gave an assignment to take the resulting sestina and turn it into some kind of better poem, though not necessarily a sestina. It will be an interesting challenge. Next weeks homages, odes, and blues poems.
I will be putting up the UCI Arboratum slide show when I have more time, which one of my students, Roxanne, kindly made for us.
2 comments:
I love Elizabeth Bishop's "Sestina." Here is the tercet:
Time to plant tears, says the almanac.
The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove
and the child draws another inscrutable house.
I love it too, but I decided to put up Pound's poem that time. I often use Bishop as an example. She is one of my favorite poets, if not my favorite.
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