The Language of Poetry:


Three workshops by Prof. Leonardo Flores

“You can’t have art without resistance in the materials”

–William Morris

This series of workshops is designed for students and educators alike, who are interested in brushing up on their poetry analysis terminology and skills. For more details, see the individual descriptions.

The Music of Poetry
Tuesday, January 19 from 10:30-12:00 in SH-204

Listen to how the musicality of language is explored by poets and musicians in patterns of rhyme, rhythm, assonance, consonance, alliteration, and onomatopoeia. Learn how to scan a poem to identify patterns of sound. This workshop will allow you to get more from your experience of listening to poetry and music.

Poetry and Meaning
Tuesday, February 9 from 10:30-12:00 in SH-203

Explore how poets choose words in terms of their denotation and connotations, and how they enrich their poems with figurative language such as metaphor, simile, metonymy, and other figures of speech as well as with symbolism and allusion. Learn how to analyze metaphor and related figures of speech using George Lakoff’s theory. This workshop will heighten your awareness of how metaphor is central to how we make sense out of language.

Looking at Poems
Tuesday, March 16 from 10:30-12:00 in SH-203

See how sounds are translated into visual information on the page using poetic formatting conventions such as line breaks, stanzas, and spacing. Learn how visual poetry traditions from 300 BC to the present blur the lines between visual art and poetry, urging us to look at a poem rather than just reading it for its sound and meaning. This workshop will open your eyes to how the visual aspect of writing can be meaningful in its myriad uses, from advertising to poetry.

Each workshop counts as 1.5 professional development hours.

For more information:
Prof. Leonardo Flores
Department of English
E-mail: leonardo.flores@upr.edu
Blog: http://blogs.uprm.edu/flores

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