Department of English

This creative writing class is not about how to write good lyrics or hone a great tune; instead, it is focused on the potential of music to inspire your own writing. From theory to rhythm to structure to lyric to distribution, the world of music closely parallels that of writing. This class will survey all types of music, from pop to rap to classical to experimental sound poetry— From Duke Ellington to Sgt. Pepper to Karlheinz Stockhausen to Kanye West—as the basis for new forms of page-based poetry and prose. The class will embrace the use of technologies such as file-sharing, audio editing software, social media, and streaming platforms as tools for ripping, remixing and burning your poems. Turn it up. Make it loud. Goal of the class: from “This is a chord. This is another. This is a third. Now form a band.” to “This is a lyric. This is another. This is a third. Now become a writer.”