3-part course by Lisa VanDamme (4 hours)

Many people have a vague apprehension that they should love classic poetry, but the consistent experience that they don’t. They might enjoy a few poems, but the pleasure is not deep enough and the discovery not common enough that it is an art they turn to eagerly and regularly.

The goal of this 4-hour course is to show how much value great poetry has to offer: to reveal how deeply moving, how startlingly illuminating, and how profoundly personal the experience of reading a poem can be.

The course explains why you do not typically experience the pleasure of a great poem simply by reading it. Full enjoyment requires that you follow a method—very simple, but rarely taught or understood—of unlocking the poem’s meaning and value.

In this course, you will learn that method. You will witness the process done for you—seeing the meaning and substance of a poem rapidly unfold before your eyes. You will learn the steps in the process—discovering how to use a simple, straightforward method to understand seemingly impenetrable poems. You will practice the process—allowing you to master it and apply it any time on your own. And you will do all this while being moved by some of the world’s most powerful poems, inspiring or heart-wrenching.

You will leave the course having been enraptured by classic poetry, believing it can happen again, and knowing how to make it happen. And you will discover why you will be the better for it if you make poetry part of your life.