Nature Poems in the 21st Century

How do we write poems that speak to our environment in a time of unprecedented ecological precarity? How might we bear witness to humanity’s impact on flora, fauna, rivers, oceans, mountains? And to who, or what, do we attune our ears when writing poems that may seek to inspire action alongside awe and hope?

In this one-week intensive course, Karen McCarthy Woolf will guide the group through a series of close readings, generative exercises and discussion. You’ll consider a diverse range of international nature poetries from around the world, including John Clare, Pablo Neruda, Jason Allen-Paisant and Layli Long Soldier.

Over the five days, you will focus on various poetic forms, literary techniques, strategies and interventions, as well as drawing on other mediums such as visual art and music. You’ll also take your writing out of Faber Academy’s classrooms and visit a gallery, to reflect and respond to how other artistic forms are responding to ecological breakdown, and how this can inform your own work.

You should finish the course with a range of material that may be the beginning, or a consolidation of, a small body of work for further development – not to mention the support of up to fourteen fellow poets keen to go and continue on the same journey.