This is an introductory subject containing both a critical and a creative component. It aims, on the one hand, to develop students' skills in various aspects of poetic craft while, on the other hand, introducing them to some of the major forms of poetry in English over the last 400 or so years. Students will be exposed to a range of debates and theoretical approaches pertinent to their own poetic practice: Why is poetry relevant? What can poetry tell us about the world that other forms of literature cannot? How can poetry shape the way we see ourselves, our environment, our history and our present? Can writing poetry be a political act? This subject addresses La Trobe's Sustainability Thinking Essential through consideration of historical and contemporary poetry about place, the environment and landscape, and the self in the context of place. Sustainability Thinking entails deep appreciation of how the choices we make affect the natural, economic, social, political and cultural systems - now and in the future.

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