The Workshop in Poetics

The Workshop in Poetics is concerned with the theoretical and practical dimensions of the reading and criticism of poetry. Oriented toward work in progress by PhD students, the workshop accommodates talks by visiting speakers and discussion of both classic and neglected works in the eclectic critical landscape called “poetics.” The workshop’s agenda is driven by a transnational and transcultural range of interests, providing a forum where scholars with distinctive methods and historical concerns can test their claims and assumptions about poetic objects against the broad linguistic and historical knowledge of the workshop’s members. The multilingual and interdisciplinary nature of the workshop has enriched the perspective that members and presenters have on their work. Over its fifteen years, the workshop has become a central venue at Stanford and in the Bay Area for sharing projects in a conversation outside of conventional disciplinary and departmental boundaries.