Variations on the Sonnet with Richie Hofmann (via Zoom)

This will be a generative workshop focusing on the expressive powers of the sonnet form and its flexibility and openness to experimentation, adaptation, and change from the Sixteenth Century to the present. In addition to reading and discussing historical examples, we’ll also look at contemporary poets who’ve taken up elements of the sonnet form. attending to complex questions of definition (how sonnet-like must a poem be to be a sonnet?). We’ll also spend time reading and discussing sonnets (and variations on the sonnet) by the workshop participants, with an eye toward descriptive criticism and possibilities for advancement.

NB: This class will be taught on Zoom (Saturday, September 28, 12:30-4:30 PM ET) and will be capped at 15 students. Registrants will receive the Zoom link to the email address they use to register. It will arrive immediately after registration so please check your spam folder if you do not receive it. It will also be sent the day before class as a reminder. Please review the course policies page before registering for any classes. Please email misty@writerscenter.org with any questions.

All HVWC scholarship applications will be available on May 1 and will be due on May 15 for all summer/fall 2024 classes.

Richie Hofmann is the author of two books of poems, A Hundred Lovers (Alfred A. Knopf, 2022) and Second Empire (Alice James Books, 2015). His poetry appears recently in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, Poetry, and The Yale Review, and has been honored with the Ruth Lilly and Wallace Stegner fellowships. He teaches at the University of Chicago.