<p>Can you please suggest a poetry writing class for a 14 year old? School has suggested Creative Writing course at local college extension but that is for prose fiction. He is looking for a poetry writing class. Thank you very much in advance.</p>
<p>Are you looking for an online class or something? </p>
<p>Prefer live in-class but online is OK too.</p>
<p>How can folks suggest an in person course without knowing where you reside?</p>
<p>My bad. Greater Boston.</p>
<p>Highly recommend Gotham Writers Workshop for online courses. They are based in NYC, but I have taken an online fiction writing class through them, and it was very well executed. I learned a lot. I checked and they have poetry specific offerings.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.writingclasses.com/CourseDescriptionPages/GenrePages.php/ClassGenreCode/PY”>http://www.writingclasses.com/CourseDescriptionPages/GenrePages.php/ClassGenreCode/PY</a></p>
<p>Community college. UMass Boston. Lesley U. (they have a writing degree), Cambridge or Boston Adult Education Centers. Grub Street.</p>
<p>It’s tough for a 14 year-old. I would suggest finding a professor, teacher or writer who would work with your son or daughter, individually, perhaps. A class could be intimidating and at that age, working on an individual basis might help develop a “voice” better than a class full of adults.</p>
<p>It might also be rewarding to study poetry. Again, an individual teacher might suggest poets to read. The standard “intro to poetry” class may not be as satisfying as the personal approach.</p>
<p>My daughter is a composer, and at that age she took individual lessons with teachers who gave her books on the history of composition and CD’s of composers who would interest her. I think poetry could follow a similar path.</p>
<p>Aha!!! Grub Street has classes for teens!!! <a href=“https://www.grubstreet.org/”>https://www.grubstreet.org/</a>
<a href=“Teen Creative Writing Classes | GrubStreet”>https://www.grubstreet.org/programs/for-teens/</a> (Looks like Saturday classes are free.)
This is an excellent writing school on Boylston Street in Boston.</p>
<p>Thanks, Compmom. This was very helpful. Saturday at Boylston is logistically perfect for us. The school recommended Introduction to Fiction Writing at the Harvard Extension School (<a href=“http://www.extension.harvard.edu/courses/introduction-fiction-writing”>A 40-Year Road | Harvard Extension School) so he will likely be enrolled in that as well.</p>
<p>Thanks, Amarylandmom as well. I looked at the course and it looks very good indeed. The problem I have with my son is that he loses focus in a online course. But it is something that will be in our radar as well.</p>
<p>You might look at some summer programs as well.</p>
<p>@AndreiTarkovsky, I love your user name - what a master of light! </p>
<p>Thanks, IrishMom. I have been a fan since my college days.</p>
<p>Hunt, At this point we do not know if it is a passing interest. Summers are booked with 2 activities he has been doing since the age of 4 and 6 respectively with 12 weeks already scheduled. Hence I am looking for regular school year programs for now.</p>
<p>Glad you identified a good local option! Totally understand how face to face could be better for a teenage boy (having a couple of my own). Good luck to your son!!</p>
<p>Also, make sure you look into the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.</p>
<p>Amarylandmom, In my experience the situation worsens if said teenage boy has a few newly acquired friends of the opposite gender and there is such a thing called skype on the computer used to participate in the online course.</p>
<p>Hunt, Thank you. The school also made us aware of that. Once his writing matures in a few years we will certainly look into it.</p>
<p>I’d suggest giving him Robert Pinsky’s book The Singing School at the next opportunity. :)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Singing-School-Learning-Studying-Masters/dp/0393348970/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418868040&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+pinsky+singing+school”>http://www.amazon.com/Singing-School-Learning-Studying-Masters/dp/0393348970/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418868040&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+pinsky+singing+school</a></p>
<p>Thank you, Consolation! I just bought it for him. He has been going through my dog-eared copy of Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. </p>
<p>I was going to say I would be a little nervous sending a 14 year-old to a Harvard Extension writing class, but just noticed that two of the professors are high school teachers 
Is your son in high school? Will there be adults in the class? Is your son a reader? (Harvard Extension classes seem to have pretty heavy reading.) is this class part of his high school curriculum or is it extra? </p>
<p>I do wonder if just writing at home, perhaps with a mentor, and submitting work when ready, might work well. Clearly he is gifted, since the school is suggesting writing classes outside of school, but I wonder if he is developmentally ready for a class with adults, if that is what it is.</p>
<p>Another poet that might interest him is Richard Wilbur. Look for New and Collected Poems.
Wilbur still teaches a course at Amherst. He’s 93 years old.</p>
<p>Compmom, He is in 8th grade. It is not part of the curriculum. The teacher recommended it when I asked her in a PTA meeting how to nurture his interests in writing poetry. I wouldn’t say that he is gifted though. Far from it! </p>
<p>Bromfield, Thank you. I have that already in my collection. I will have to expose him to Wilbur no doubt.</p>