(Recorded Course) I Hate Poetry! with Kevin O'Brien (Survey, Poetry)

 

NOTICE: This is an older course recorded with Adobe Connect and/or Vimeo recordings. We are currently working to replace the recordings with new Zoom recordings.  Please don't hesitate to email us at homeschoolconnections@gmail.com with any questions.

How to get the most out of I Hate Poetry! with Kevin O’Brien:

  • First, read the course materials below before the first class meeting.

  • Then have a notebook ready and available for class notes each live session.

  • Watch that week’s recording if you need to revisit information from our live session.

  • Do the assignments, quizzes, and any extra work assigned for that week.

  • Once the course is completed to the parent's and professor’s satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records.

Total Classes: 8

Duration: 55 minutes

Prerequisite: None

Suggested Grade Level: 7th to 12th grade

Suggested Credit: ½ semester Literature

Instructor: Kevin O’Brien

Instructor Email: kevin@classeswithkevin.com 

Course Description: Is it possible to go from hating poetry to loving poetry?  Is it possible to be able to tell a good poem from a bad one?  How about the poems we write but are too scared to show anybody else?  Are they any good? Can we make them better? All of these questions and more will be answered in this two-week summer course that seeks to make poetry fun and understandable!  We will closely read selections from the greatest poets of all time: Dante, Shakespeare, Donne, Blake, Dickinson, Poe, Frost, Tolkien, Chesterton and Belloc - and we'll try our hand at writing our own.  Roses are Red / Violets are Green / If you want a cool class / Then this one is keen!

Course Outline (day by day):

  1. Introduction and Funny Poems

  2. Poetry vs. Prose - Various Selections

  3. Poetry and the Face of God: Dante and Others

  4. Shakespeare and Friends

  5. The Poetry of Chesterton and Belloc

  6. Great American Poets: Poe, Dickinson, Frost, etc.

  7. Eliot and the Moderns

  8. Taking our Poems out of the Drawer!  Is my Poetry Any Good?

Course Materials: PDF files provided free by the instructor.

Homework: Assignments and readings. Expect to average one to two hours per class on homework outside of the classroom.