Graham Fawcett

writer, teacher, translator and broadcaster

e-mail: grahamkfawcett@gmail.com

telephone: 020 7405 3997

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Poetry School Seminars, One-to-One Tutorials and Courses
with Graham Fawcett

2008-2009

Poetry School Small Group Seminars 2008-2009 in Holborn

More information about the Seminars can be found at www.poetryschool.com

Poetry School One-to-One Tutorials 2008-2009 in Holborn

2009

Wednesdays 14th January to 18th March 2009

LONDON

THE POETRY SCHOOL

81/83 Lambeth Walk, London SE11 6DX

READING THE GREEKS AND ROMANS

(the first of two ten-week terms)

with Graham Fawcett

Chart the poetry map of the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds, tracing the development of poetry from Athenian verse drama to Roman satire through close readings of key poems and passages illustrated by a whole range of translations from George Chapman to Ted Hughes and beyond. 

Term 1 – Reading The Greeks

Hesiod, Homer, Alcaeus, Sappho, Anacreon, Simonides, Pindar, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Menander, and poets of the Hellenistic World read in some of the finest translations available in English

14 places already booked, 2 places left

Bookings: www.poetryschool.com

Enquiries and bookings: 0845 223 5274

Thursdays 15th January to 19th March 2009, 6:45 pm - 8:45 pm
(the second of three ten-week terms through to June 2009)

THE POETRY SCHOOL

81/83 Lambeth Walk, London SE11 6DX

READING POEMS IN THEIR TIME AND PLACE                                                   

Why do poets write the poems they do when they do ?

Ranging across the centuries and around the world, Graham picks characteristic poems from thirty poets and presents them to you – to begin with – anonymously.

Studying them line by line, you’ll unearth ideas about their place in history and the poet’s life, and explore the literary, cultural and social conditions out of which they came.

The first part of the evening is spent getting a sense of the time and place in which the poem seems to have been written and so who might have written it. From the moment when the identity of the poet has been guessed or revealed, the group has to re-think much of what has already been said, often discovering some unimaginably fascinating parallels between the not-quite-on-the-mark guesses already made and the actual poet in his or her time and place. So, for instance, a sense of civil war or non-Englishness can lead to a solution which has both of these features though not quite as expected.

Poets whose work you will read might include Anna Akhmatova, W H Auden, Basho, Anne Bradstreet, Bei Dao, Edward Brathwaite, the Countess of Dia, Emily Dickinson, T S Eliot, Jorie Graham, W S Graham, Seamus Heaney, George Herbert, G M Hopkins, Horace, Ted Hughes, Elizabeth Jennings, Ivan Lalic, Mallarmé, Eugenio Montale, Les A Murray, Alice Oswald, Pindar, Ezra Pound, Rilke, Leopold Senghor, Shelley, Wallace Stevens, Tennyson, W B Yeats and others

A relaxed and friendly close reading course. Each session is completely self-contained, a feature of the course also appreciated by those who decide to join it in January or April.

14 places already booked, 2 places left

Enquiries and bookings to: 0845 223 5274   Bookings: www.poetryschool.com

Wednesdays 22nd April to 24th June 2009

LONDON

THE POETRY SCHOOL

81/83 Lambeth Walk, London SE11 6DX

READING THE GREEKS AND ROMANS

(the second of two ten-week terms)

with Graham Fawcett

Chart the poetry map of the Ancient Roman world, tracing the development of Roman poetry through close readings of key poems and passages read in some of the finest translations available in English. 

Term 2 – Reading The Romans

Lucretius, Catullus, Vergil, Propertius, Tibullus, Horace, Juvenal and Ovid.

Enquiries and bookings to: 0845 223 5274

Bookings: www.poetryschool.com

Thursdays 23rd April to 25th June 2009, 645-845pm

THE POETRY SCHOOL

81/83 Lambeth Walk, London SE11 6DX

READING POEMS IN THEIR TIME AND PLACE                                                   

Why do poets write the poems they do when they do ?

Ranging across the centuries and around the world, Graham picks characteristic poems from thirty poets and presents them to you – to begin with – anonymously.

Studying them line by line, you’ll unearth ideas about their place in history and the poet’s life, and explore the literary, cultural and social conditions out of which they came.

The first part of the evening is spent getting a sense of the time and place in which the poem seems to have been written and so who might have written it. From the moment when the identity of the poet has been guessed or revealed, the group has to re-think much of what has already been said, often discovering some unimaginably fascinating parallels between the not-quite-on-the-mark guesses already made and the actual poet in his or her time and place. So, for instance, a sense of civil war or non-Englishness can lead to a solution which has both of these features though not quite as expected.

Poets whose work you will read might include Anna Akhmatova, W H Auden, Basho, Anne Bradstreet, Bei Dao, Edward Brathwaite, the Countess of Dia, Emily Dickinson, T S Eliot, Jorie Graham, W S Graham, Seamus Heaney, George Herbert, G M Hopkins, Horace, Ted Hughes, Elizabeth Jennings, Ivan Lalic, Mallarmé, Eugenio Montale, Les A Murray, Alice Oswald, Pindar, Ezra Pound, Rilke, Leopold Senghor, Shelley, Wallace Stevens, Tennyson, W B Yeats and others

A relaxed and friendly close reading course. Each session is completely self-contained, a feature of the course also appreciated by those who decide to join it in January or April.

Enquiries and bookings to: 0845 223 5274               Bookings: www.poetryschool.com

Friday 15th to Sunday 17th May 2009

St IVES AND ZENNOR (CORNWALL)

THE POETRY SCHOOL

St Ives and Zennor - a weekend of poetry walks, talks and workshops

with Tammy Yoseloff and Graham Fawcett

In the early twentieth century, writers and artists converged on St Ives, inspired by its rugged coastline. During this weekend of talks, walks and writing workshops, you will examine the influence of St Ives on poets, notably W S Graham, David Wright, Jack Clemo and George Barker, and artists including Alfred Wallis and Barbara Hepworth; and will look towards the landscape of St Ives & nearby Zennor as a springboard for new poems. See Events Calendar 15th - 17th May 2009 for more details.

Enquiries and bookings to: 0845 223 5274

Bookings: www.poetryschool.com

Saturday 13th June 2009, 10:30 am - 4:30 pm

LONDON AND CHALFONT ST GILES

THE POETRY SCHOOL

POETS' LONDON – John Milton

with Graham Fawcett

The morning will be devoted to tracking down - whether house, lodging or hiding-place - the sites of what were once Milton’s London addresses - including the place where he hid to escape the scaffold and the setting in which he completed Paradise Lost from Westminster to Finsbury and so opening doors on a public and private world of tremendous upheaval and almost unimaginable single-mindedness.

Then, after lunch, so as to find out what it was like to be at home with the poet, we travel to Chalfont St Giles and the house, still standing, where, in 1665 and with his family, he took refuge from the Plague, and completed Paradise Lost, rare editions of which can be seen here together with many relics of Milton’s daily life over five years.

Enquiries and bookings to: 0845 223 5274

Bookings: www.poetryschool.com/

COMMENT ON THE LAST POETS’ LONDON – POUND AND YEATS DAY IN 2008

“It was a very interesting day indeed.  Especially everything to do with Yeats and his Mondays, which you really brought to life”  Robert Chandler