Online Workshop: The Poems of Delmore Schwartz with Jonathan Edwards
Mon 3 Mar 2025 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM GMT
Online, Zoom
Description
‘In Dreams Begin Responsibilities’: The Poems of Delmore Schwartz
In many ways, Delmore Schwartz is one of the most mythologised poets of the twentieth century. A tutor of Lou Reed and a friend of John Berryman and Saul Bellow, he inspired much tremendous writing, and wrote some of it himself. A prodigy who was quickly famous, he died early, in a flophouse, without seeming to achieve his great potential. His poems, especially in their use of metaphor, often seem to point backwards, in the direction of the Metaphysicals, but his is also a twentieth-century urban world of skyscrapers, blobs of chewing gum and baseball, which he celebrates in memorable, musical, highly crafted yet also often, somehow, almost conversational lines. In this workshop, we’ll look at some great poems by Schwartz, setting these alongside the work of more recent and familiar poets who echo his approaches, and use all this to inspire our own new poems. Join us for an exciting morning of reading and writing!
About Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards’ first collection, My Family and Other Superheroes (Seren, 2014), received the Costa Poetry Award and the Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice Award. It was shortlisted for the Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. His second collection, Gen (Seren, 2018), also received the Wales Book of the Year People’s Choice Award, and in 2019 his poem about Newport Bridge was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. He lives in Crosskeys, South Wales.
Zoom
These workshops will be conducted via Zoom. We have put together this simple 'How To' document to help you download Zoom, join a meeting, and navigate around the meeting features (such as adjusting video and audio, uploading files, and sharing screens).
You will receive a confirmation email from Ticket Tailor with your ticket and the Zoom invitation, containing the meeting link and Meeting ID & Password.
Someone from The Poetry Business team will be on hand prior to each workshop to offer additional help in getting connected.
There is usually a lot of interest in our workshops: in the interest of fairness, please limit yourself to one workshop ticket in every two week period.
Bursary Spaces
There are two bursary spaces available per workshop for writers from groups that are under-represented in contemporary poetry (for instance because of ethnic background) or who are experiencing financial hardship. If you would like to apply for one of these bursary places, please contact workshops@poetrybusiness.co.uk
Refunds
If you no longer wish to attend the workshop please let us know by emailing us. We ask for 3 working days' notice before the workshop starts in order to offer a full refund, and enable us to offer the place to someone else.
Though we will do all we can to help you get set up with the technology it is the participants' responsibility to ensure that their camera, microphone and other computer settings are configured correctly. Please contact us (workshops@poetrybusiness.co.uk) if you are concerned about getting set up for Zoom.