About NYC Advanced Poetry

Students at this level are writing poetry with an increased focus on creating an individual voice and an emotional atmosphere.

Exercises using free verse and traditional, received forms (i.e., sonnet, villanelle, sestina, and pantoum) as well as meter and syllabics are suggested in order to strengthen a student’s technical skills. This class asks students to recognize what makes a poem engaging and entertaining to the reader. Students follow the Craft Class syllabus (along with readings distributed by the teacher) from which exercises are taken. Many students are finishing exercises and publishing poetry in literary journals and anthologies.

Open to poets who have poetry publications, an MFA, or four post-graduate writing courses and students who have completed Level 2 at The Writers Studio. After completing a number of sessions in Advanced Poetry, students may go on to study with Philip Schultz in the Master Class, with permission of the teacher. Please contact Lisa Bellamy at lisa@writerstudio.com to apply for this class. Places in the class are awarded by the instructor on a case-by-case basis.

The workshop is my writing life. I use it to draw poems out of me, and have come to need its structure and exercises in order to get myself writing. Without it, I’d only write during emergency situations when I really need an emotional outlet.
AMY SCHATZ
Emmy-award winning television producer and poet

Available NYC Courses