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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop by California Institute of the Arts

4.8
stars
1,707 ratings

About the Course

Why just write poems when you can write better ones? This course is built on the notion that the most exciting writing begins after the first draft. It is specifically for folks who believe that writing poems just to express oneself is like using the Internet just for email. After all, poetry can change the way you and your readers think of the world and its inhabitants; it can break new ground for language; turn a blank sheet of paper into a teeming concert of voices and music. Though any of us may have the potential to make that happen, having an understanding of how several tools of poetic composition can be used (and audaciously “mis-used”) gives you more ways to try (and if we do this right, we might surprise ourselves most of all). We'll cover key poetic terms and devices by studying poems by a handful of modern and contemporary poets and then get a chance to try our own hand at writing new poem drafts from a select number of prompts. Throughout the course you will have the opportunity to workshop your poem drafts and get feedback on your work, working towards a more polished poem....

Top reviews

ES

May 4, 2022

The professor and tasks were very engaging. I truly looked forward to tuning in and working through the lessons and assignments. My interest in poetry is further stoked and I can't wait to learn more.

SM

Jun 11, 2020

Loved the course. Douglas Kearney is amazing as an instructor. I love poetry and this workshop has made me happy during the times of COVID 19. I thank CalArts for the encouragement and appreciation.

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26 - 50 of 699 Reviews for Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop

By Mitchell C

May 14, 2022

This course does a good job in covering the basics andpresenting you with interesting prompts. The workshop aspect really allows you to receive feedback which can be difficult to find elsewhere.

By Andrea M S

Nov 2, 2015

I have learned so much and I love D's energy and the avid participation of the other students. Will definitely pass on what I've learned. Can't wait for more courses like this in the future! :)

By ANAGHA G

Mar 3, 2022

It was a great opportunity to learn many poetic forms as well as improved poetry writings via the exposure through the various workshop activity.

By Olivera S

Jul 9, 2020

Wonderful and inspiring course, thank you COURSERA for the new experience!

By Jaik ( J

Feb 28, 2022

I appreciated this opportunity to further my poetry writing muscle. I leave the course with a greater understanding of more traditional form. I may have benefitted from one assignment per week and each prompt having to be submitted. I would recommend this course to others.

By Maria L

Apr 11, 2020

This 'course' is so diluted and threadbare it's unbearable. Add to that the misplaced gimmicks and 'humour' in the videos and you soon feel you are wasting your time. I wasn't expecting anything advanced, but this is not even basic. Might be OK for a 5 y.o. though. For adults, I would recommend a good book on poetry writing. Or, even better, on prosody. There are some excellent ones to choose from.

By Jeffrey S

Jan 18, 2020

Obnoxious instructor.

By Alexandra M

Jul 14, 2023

I found Douglas to be an intelligent and entertaining instructor for the course. I had not encountered 90% of the technical language included, and it will take time to recall, remember and implement these 'rules'. I took notes throughout - being able to pause and rewatch the videos, as well as read the transcripts helped a lot. I have not read much American poetry, so this was a nice introduction to it, although I did miss having a spectrum of world poets.

The advice about reading and reviewing other people's work was helpful, and having a set of points as a checklist enabled me to think a bit more about what I was thinking - however, as someone new to poetry it wasn't always easy to do, as I didn't always recognise the meter, the rhythm, or whether something was iambic or trochaic. It seems as though some students were stuck in polite mode and simply said - good job - which didn't help me to improve, though was pleasant for the ego!

Being on a low income, having access to a course like this has been a very welcome relief. I look forward to reading more American poetry, including Douglas', and putting into practice what I have hopefully learned.

I might even try another CaLARTS course. Thank you.

By Douglas B

Jun 1, 2020

Professor Douglas Kearney and his Coursera course Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop are excellent and outstanding in every way. His lectures on the videos are totally informative and entertaining. Douglas Kearney is a professor who instructs and delights. The poems he uses for examples in his talks bring new knowledge and perspectives to the learner. The breadth of Professor Douglas Kearney's knowledge about poetry is amazing. His sensitivity to poetic values goes deep. Creativity and innovation were highlighted in the Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop course. Professor Douglas Kearney and his course definitely increased my poetic appreciation and practice. The lessons I learned through this course were invaluable. I give Professor Douglas Kearney and his Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop course my very highest recommendation!!

By Chin-Chieh, W

Feb 16, 2017

I love this course, Sharpened Visions, so much. I am so surprised by the exuberance and humor of Mr. Douglas Kearney. His teaching style enlarge my eagerness to learn Poetry. In this course, there are lots of the poetic subjects, e.g. line, image, abstraction, rhyme, rhythm, and revision. Those technical term had seemed to be very academic and boring to me before I take this course, but Mr. Douglas Kearney uses another interesting and easier ways to teach and describe. I feel enlightened and learn lots of the basic but crucial poetic knowledge. If you ask me what benefits me the most in this course, I would say I fall in love with Poetry, and can't wait for getting engaged in it! Sharpened Visions is really highly recommended. It's worth your try!

By Dewa A D D S

Jun 20, 2020

I realised I never took a chance in learning poetry beyond just a hobby and I wanted something light as well as practical after an intense first year in university. This workshop was very enjoyable and so feasibly structured out for an online workshop, that I was hooked from the start of the course. Douglas made the course light with his jokes, eye-opening in his selection of poetry samples, and encouraging in writing beyond our comfort zone. As a workshop, we exchanged works with peers in the course and shared feedback to each other. The assignments gave me a chance to really experiment and how to continuously improve my writing. And as Douglas said, the richest writing comes after the first draft.

By K R

Sep 24, 2020

There really should be two opportunities to review, one for the content and one for the platform.

Regarding the content, the instructor is excellent and exceeded my expectations. Both beginners and experienced writers could benefit from this class. All of the reading material was relevant and interesting,. The only content suggestion I might have is that the Revision module might benefit from a before-and-after example.

Coursera, however, has some unaddressed issues which are causing frustration for the learners. These issues are not so bad that they prevent people from completing the class. On the other hand I wonder to what extend Coursera is being proactive to remove these obstacles.

By Timothy V

Aug 24, 2017

This class WAY exceeded my expectations. The instructor is the BOMB! The only thing I would voice as a "complaint" is I wish we, as students, could be more interactive through the course in providing feedback. Nothing a poet hates worse than submitting a poem and no one really looking at it and/or providing no feedback. There must be a way to get the course more interactive for students to review and help edit one another's works. I know there are the peer assignments but so far I don't think my poems have fallen into that category from a student, though I may be wrong. But class wise, A++++

- Timothy Verret

By Dominique S

Mar 21, 2019

The teacher truly makes this course a 5 star learning experience. He's funny and entertaining while presenting course materials. I have a major difficulty with school-- I dropped out of high school and college. I love this class. He kept my interest and helped build my understanding on poetry. I highly recommend this for anyone looking to improve their poetry or learn about poetry! The assignments were fantastic. There's always two choices for the homework and you can pick one (or both if you want) but one is graded. So if you aren't into one of the assignments, there's always something for you here.

By Muhammad A A

Sep 18, 2022

It was a great course. We learned to write and revise poetry. It allowed us to meet and discuss poetry with people from all over the world. The peer assessment was one of the strongest elements of this curse but also the weakest. While the feedback from our peers allowed us to improve and revise our poetry, the amrks they awarded were not always fair because of their poor language skills. This is an aspect we should reconsider. Allow the peer assessor to give us feedback. But do not give them the responsibility of assigning marks to our poems. We have quizzes to enable us to grade our learning.

By Re B

Apr 13, 2020

Excellent lecturing skills by Doug, thank you - to the point that the manner and mood of delivery which Doug uses feels like he is talking to you, the Student, on an individual basis. Doug made me laugh, understand nuances, which I generally struggle with and gain new skills. I would like to know if Doug has anymore Online courses available please. Great, great, great. I wish my schoolteachers had been like Doug, making learning and acquiring knowledge, doing assignments etc., into a fun and stimulating experience, where the new information is so easily retained by the Student.

By Kris J

Sep 27, 2020

I loved the Sharpened Visions course. Professor Doug Kearney has a fun, playful presentation style in the videos teaching the background concepts, but most of your work is done offline, writing your own poems. The workshop happens via randomly-assigned peer review, which can be a little impersonal, and the helpfulness of peer comments varies. But there is also a course forum to present your work for feedback from a wider audience of students and class mentors.

I'd recommend this class to anyone who wants to gain more background and practice in different forms of poetry.

By Ann E D

Jun 19, 2021

Excellent! This course was all that the curriculum laid out, and more! It was well organized, totally engaging, and the peer review process very helpful. I am new to writing poetry, and I feel as if I have "moved u" a level! The two best sections: 1) Rhythm and 2) Revision. There is so much to learn about the complex realtionship between poetry and music... and going towards a better appreciation of Spoken Word poetry and the beautiful poery in the deaf community. That would be a great course: poetry meant to be recited and poeetry only meant to be read ....

By Sean L

Apr 18, 2018

I am not yet finished this course, but so far it is sizing up to be great. Of the courses I have tested on this site, which are many, this is one of the better conceived ones, and you can tell the teacher is very committed to his work. He takes advantage of video lecturing as a medium, using various techniques to make his videos more engaging but without sacrificing didactic content. Otherwise it is what you would expect an online writing workshop to be: provided are writing prompts for practicing your skills, and near the end are sessions for sharing your work.

By GW

Aug 10, 2020

Doug a most engaging, informative and inspiring teacher. I would definitely take another course by him and I applaud him for managing to pack a lot of thought-provoking ideas into just six weeks. He’s introduced me to new poets and help me explore my poetry in a way I never would have otherwise. I’ve also become part of a poetry study group with other course participants and we have already had our first online meeting and shared some really useful insights into each other’s work. This will continue after the course.Thank you to Doug and Coursera!

By Ga H

Jun 22, 2021

Thank you so much for an interesting and enlightening course.

I never had much connection to poetry and won't be a poet, but I wanted to learn more about it. The course taught me a lot, made me appreciate poetry more and admire poets for the work and skill that is behind each poem.

The vivid and fun lectures made me remember why listening to a lecture is so much better for learning than reading from a tutorial. The way the material was presented made all the difference. It was clear, funny and made me want to know more.

Overall, a wonderful course.

By Maureen W

Feb 10, 2018

Doug is so funny. And he parses out the information is easy, manageable, usable chucks with excellent examples. I love his kinetic force. It seems to make everything so much more understandable and even though I a far from being a kid, the screen glossary intros, then sample poems, it has impact. For a 15 year old but easily for us latter day saints too. I love everything about poetry. I'm volunteering at Ottawa VersFest soon. All I need to do now is to try to write but there could not be a more approachable course than this one. Thank you!!

By Vatsala S

Aug 22, 2020

The instructor is so hilarious, thought-provoking, and mindful of how much we can assimilate and digest in a single sitting. I never took the course for granted and struggled for a day or two with some of the poems but still completed it way ahead of time and came out with a renewed sense of interest in poetry. I would say this course is perfect for both budding (though you'll need to put in a little homework on the side!) and seasoned poets. Thanks to the CalArts staff and my fellow peers who gave me so much motivation and inspiration.

By JoAnna S

Oct 23, 2015

In short presentations, Doug manages to give insightful tools to crafting a fine-tuned poem. He makes learning about rhyme, metaphor and scansion uncomplicated while he hones your focus, so your writing can surprise you. The class exercises and community feedback help create a classroom of learners. I was inspired. For the first time I understood iambic pentameter, trochees and scansion. The best tool was learning how to revise, how to look for the turn in the poem and expand that turn into something unforeseen.

By Sanika

Aug 18, 2020

I have learned new things in this course and have thoroughly enjoyed the process.I have also written some poems in the process and I am glad that I got to know where I was wrong and where I was right.I also had the opportunity to know how to improve my poems which is wonderful.

I would like to thank my instructor in this course for making learning exciting.I would also like all my classmates for patiently giving reviews and waiting for one at the same time.

Thank you CALARTS and thank you Coursera!!