Love, Nature and the Ode

The Ode as a poetic form originates in the pastoral tradition of writing about nature to both document and praise the natural world while investigating our human relationship to it. In this creative writing poetry course, we will study each of five “Odes” by John Keats as a catalyst for considering a variety of contemporary approaches to the tradition: pastoral/bucolic; eclogue; aubade and nocturne; ballad; as well as the more current practice of the urban pastoral and the eco-poetic. We will read several contemporary collections of poems considering the relationship between nature and poet, considering how a writer in the 21st century can engage this deep tradition. Students will complete assigned readings, take part in online discussions, and participate in workshop to develop, write, and revise 5 new poems by the end of quarter. You should the leave the class with a strong understanding of the ode as a form in which poets address nature, love, and the self, as well as an understanding of its literary history in relation to your own original work.