NB: This session can also be booked to attend In-person at Barking Learning Centre.

Session Seven: April is a popular month in the northern hemisphere – it is definitely Spring now and new life is emerging. Yet TS Eliot referred to April as ‘the Cruellest Month’.

In the first hour we will look at excerpts from his long poem ‘the Wasteland’ and see if we can see what he was getting at. Then we will write our own responses.

In the second hour, we will workshop participants poems via the Classroom file sharing tool.

Learning Outcomes:

• Opportunity to get to grips with what TS Eliot’s thinking around Spring in the Waste Land and write a poem exploring this
• Opportunity to read the first draft of their poem to the group and progress by getting feedback from the group and the tutor

Course outline:

The Poetry classes are on a drop in basis and appropriate for all levels from beginner to published. Each month participants will spend the first hour looking at a different aspect of poetry, read some poems that explore that aspect and discuss them, and try their hands at some writing. In the second hour participants will give feedback on their poems in progress.

NB: Please bring x15 copies of your poem for workshopping on the day or post it in the supporting Google Classroom.

Anna Robinson is a poet, writer, and an academic with a range of adult education experience. She taught Poetry Writing at University of East London, The Poetry School and for Pen to Print since 2014. Anna’s current research interests include contemporary dialect poetry and the relationship between poetry and history. Anna’s third collection Whatsname Street  was published by Smokestack press in 2021.

Please note there is a supporting Google Classroom for this course and the direct link to join can be found in confirmation email under the Additional information section.

If you have any accessibility requirements, please directly get in touch with us at pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk

If you are not sure if this class is for you or would like more information, please contact us to discuss. Ask the organiser or email: pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk

To ensure you don’t miss out on the latest updates, please sign up to our e-newsletter

NB: To make the most of the Poetry Classes with Anna Robinson, please ensure that you book your place and that you are prepared to attend all the available sessions, there are 10 monthly sessions in total.

Tickets will be released in three-month blocks for the following dates:

• 14 October 2023
• 4 November 2023
• 16 December 2023
• 13 January 2024
• 3 February 2024
• 2 March 2024
• 6 April 2024
• 11 May 2024
• 1 June 2024
• 13 July 2024

• Booking is essential. Pen to Print and our partners reserve the right to remove participants who are found not to have booked a place for a session

• Pen to Print and our partners reserve the right to remove participants who are disruptive to a session

• Pen to Print and our partners reserve the right to unenroll a participant from a course and explore an alternative approach to supporting them on their writing journey, if we feel that a class is unsuitable for that participant

• NB: May feature content that some people may find upsetting, uses language or depicts scenes reflecting attitudes that are no longer seen as acceptable

• Pen to Print reserves the right to cancel, delay or postpone the event for any reason, including adverse weather conditions, an emergency situation or unforeseen or unavoidable circumstances out of its reasonable control. In such cases, the event organiser will endeavour to inform participants as quickly as is possible