The Telling Detail: Metonymy and the Half-said Thing, Poetry Masterclass, Don Paterson, 4/10/23
A rare opportunity to join one of the best, wisest, most knowledgeable poets in the UK.
In this workshop Don Paterson will discuss how we can use metonymy and detail to make our poems shorter and punchier, while leaving far more space for the reader to enter into the creation of the poem’s meaning. Using examples drawn from the work of Frost, Plath, Bishop and Heaney, Don will propose some practical strategies that will help us find ‘the telling detail’, and show us how we might use it to concentrate our theme, turn image into argument – and make our poems far more powerful, surprising and memorable.
Metonymy is figure of speech such as “lend me your ears,” “ears” is substituted for “attention.” “O, for a draught of vintage!” exclaims the speaker in John Keats’s “Ode to Nightingale,” with “vintage” understood to mean “wine.” (Poetry Foundation)
Timing and Cost
9.30am UK time // 4.30pm Perth Australia // 7pm Adelaide // 6pm Darwin // 6.30pm Brisbane // Sydney 7.30pm
A useful link for checking other timezones: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html
Wednesday 4th October
2.5 hours long
Cost £30GBP (with cost effective exchange via STRIPE)
Online on Zoom
About Don Paterson
Don Paterson is the author of numerous works of poetry and non-fiction; his writing has won many awards, including the Whitbread Poetry Prize, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Costa Poetry Award, all three Forward Prizes, and the T. S. Eliot Prize on two occasions. He was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2009; he is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the English Association and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and for many years taught at the University of St Andrews, where he is now Emeritus Professor of Poetry in the School of English. From 1997 to 2022, Paterson was poetry editor at Picador. For most of his life he has also worked as a jazz musician and composer. He lives in Kirriemuir, Scotland.
Don Paterson is the author of numerous works of poetry and non-fiction; his writing has won many awards, including the Whitbread Poetry Prize, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Costa Poetry Award, all three Forward Prizes, and the T. S. Eliot Prize. He was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2009; he is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the English Association and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and taught at the University of St Andrews, where he is now Emeritus Professor of Poetry in the School of English. From 1997 to 2022, Paterson was poetry editor at Picador. For most of his life he has also worked as a jazz musician and composer.
If this event sells out, contact me using this form TO BE ADDED TO THE WAITING LIST – I often do draw on the waiting list. Include the name of the workshop.
