Exploring Sound and Poetry

with Sarah Fletcher, supported by Barnaby Tobias

15th January to 19th March

'Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.' T.S. Eliot

People often are inspired and baffled by poetry: as a teacher, I often get asked most: what does this poem mean? While most poetry workshops lean into deciphering sense and pulling out logic, this workshop strips the poem to its most bare elements: sound. Rudolf Steiner noted “Every vowel is a soul-mood, and every consonant an imprint of the world”, and these weekly poetry workshops will seek to put his philosophical underpinnings in practice. This is a unique opportunity to explore the core building blocks of our world — language — through verse.

These two-hour workshops will allow us to use sound as the “scaffold” of a poem, upon which thought and feeling and image will naturally arise. Students will learn to write out of sound noticing how certain sounds impact breath, and perhaps even reveal something we didn’t realise yet that we wanted to say. From this, verse and meaning can emerge naturally. We will learn how to embody language before we write it, developing a range of expressive postures. Expect recitation, sonic-drafting, and warm-ups that connect voice with imagination.

Please bring your own notebook and pen.

Sarah Fletcher is an American-British writer. Her debut poetry collection PLUS ULTRA was published in 2023 with CHEERIO Publishing. Her verse has appeared in The Poetry Review, Poetry London, The White Review, and more. She has taught for universities, creative writing charities, and primary schools. She is currently completing a PhD on how creative writing can treat chronic pain at Aberystwyth University.

Barnaby Tobias is a playwright and actor from South Devon. His plays have been performed at Riverside Studios, The White Bear, Actors East and The Hope Theatre, as well as multiple readings at The Marylebone Theatre, where he established and ran their Emerging Playwrights Group. As an actor he's worked for Netflix & The Royal Shakespeare Company. He runs Mysterium Press, an independent poetry press based in Devon and monthly poetry nights in Rudolf Steiner Bookshop.

Cost: £15/£10 conc.

Book online via https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/rudolf-steiner-house/e-jzxqqx or pay at the bookshop on arrival.