Love it or hate it, rhyming is quite possibly the first thing that many think of when they think of poetry. My grandmother used to disdain any poem that didn’t rhyme. I’ve known workshop leaders who have banned rhyming from the class. Why do we have such a visceral response to this oldest of poetic tools? This seminar will explore rhyme as an essential part of writing poetry (you’re either very purposefully using it, or very purposefully avoiding it). We’ll look at well-rhymed poems and talk about why they work. We’ll think of rhyme as an aid to composition, not a hurdle. We’ll also write our own writing poems; the second meeting of this two-part seminar will be a workshop session.
Instructor Nathaniel “Neil” Perry is the author of Nine Acres (American Poetry Review, 2011), which won the 2011 APR/Honickman First Book Prize. His poems and translations have appeared recently in American Poetry Review, Cincinnati Review, Gettysburg Review, Bat City Review, and elsewhere. He is the editor of the Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review and lives with his family in rural southside Virginia.