A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.

Elise Paschen

Assistant Professor, Adjunct

Bio

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Writing (1999). BA, 1982, Harvard University; MPhil, 1984, DPhil, 1988, Oxford University. Books: The Nightlife; Bestiary; Infidelities; Houses: Coasts. Periodicals and Anthologies: The New Yorker; The New Republic; The Nation; The Hudson Review; Ploughshares; Poetry Magazine; A Formal Feeling Comes: Poems in Form by Contemporary Women; Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's Writings. Edited: The Eloquent Poem; Poetry Speaks to Children; Poetry Speaks Who I Am; The Harvard Advocate. Co-edited: Poetry in Motion: 100 Poems from the Subways & Buses; Poetry Speaks; Poetry Speaks Expanded; Poetry in Motion from Coast to Coast; Oxford Poetry. Co-founder: Poetry in Motion; Oxford Poetry. Former Executive Director: Poetry Society of America. Awards: Rupert Costo Chair in American Indian Affairs Medal; The Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize; The Frances Allen Fellowship; The Lloyd McKim Garrison Medal.

 

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

This class serves as an entry into the historical, theoretical and practical concerns of creative writing as an art form in itself and as a vital element of interdisciplinary projects. We explore the possibilities of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays and hybrid practices as writing for the page, as well as for performance, sound, installation, and image-based pieces. Readings include diverse examples of genre and form, as well as investigations of literary and thematic terminology. Students generate weekly responses to reading and writing exercises that focus on understanding the mechanics of writing, and are introduced to workshopping techniques and etiquette.

Class Number

1883

Credits

3

Description

In this generative seminar you will produce a new poem a week based on writing prompts as well as discuss poems and their genesis by contemporary poets included in The Eloquent Poem: 128 Contemporary Poems and Their Making. This anthology is inspired by classes Paschen has taught at SAIC and includes the work of our most influential contemporary poets such as Joy Harjo, Cornelius Eady, Martin Espada, Billy Collins, Kimiko Hahn and Marilyn Nelson, as well as poems by debut writers, including former SAIC students. Your weekly writing prompts will include aubades & nocturnes, ars poeticas, litanies, ekphrasis, prose poems, mirror poems, concrete poems and collage poems. The class is open to students exploring any genre.

Class Number

2007

Credits

3