Playing with Poetry: Creative Writing and Poetics (FutureLearn)

This practical and hands-on course gives you the opportunity to learn the common rules of poetry and then decide how best to turn those rules into an enjoyable creative writing experience.
Explore different techniques such as lineation

What is the effect of rhythm and rhyme on a poem? Does it matter where we decide to start a new line? How do we make use of the power of the lyric? On the course, you’ll explore these questions and learn how to answer them with confidence.

You’ll cover topics such as the basics of poetry, lineation, creative writing, and lyric poetry to gain a comprehensive understanding of the techniques and theories used to shape a poem.

Build your confidence alongside experts

This course will equip you with the knowledge needed to start writing poetry as well as showing you the fun and creative side of poetics.

Learning from David Musgrave, poet, and teacher of Creative Writing and English literature at the University of Newcastle, you’ll finish the course with the skills and confidence to unleash your inner poet.

What topics will you cover?

- The basics of poetry

- Lineation

- Lyric poetry

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

- Identify a range of different forms of poetry.

- Discuss key techniques involved in shaping a poem.

- Evaluate the poetic ideas and theories which inform particular kinds of poetry.