Write narrative poems and ballads through action, refrain and a purposeful telling voice. Explore what verse can reveal by leaving part of a story untold.
Suggested pace
4 weeks
Learning time
16 hours
Format
Self-paced
Our course is evergreen, so its suggested pace is not a fixed start date or deadline. Explore our syllabus and original open lesson below. The full teaching pack, feedback arrangements and delivery still need to be completed before enrolment opens.
AN OPEN LESSON · ABOUT 20 MINUTES
Let the refrain hear the news
The invented refrain 'Nobody closed the gate' might begin as a practical complaint and end as an accusation. A story gives repeated language new knowledge each time it returns.
Try it now
Outline a fictional arrival, discovery and departure. End each short stanza with the same line, changing only the events before it.
Read it back, or check the result
Track what the listener knows at each return. If the refrain means the same thing every time, revise one event rather than decorating the repeated line.
This original Learn Courses exercise is free to read and use for your own practice. It is a standalone introduction, not a claim that the full course or tutor feedback is available.
FREE · AT YOUR OWN PACE
Follow this plan
Keep your own record as you work through the open lesson, each module and the final project. The full lesson pack and tutor feedback are still in production, so this records your own study, not an assessed result.
Our course is evergreen. Register interest for course-specific availability contact, without a fixed start date, payment or reserved place. This does not subscribe you to a general newsletter.
IS THIS FOR YOU?
Who this course is for
Writers who want a poem to carry events, characters and a changing situation.
Before you begin
A notebook or accessible writing tool and a way to read the supplied text-first material.
No formal writing qualification is required. Bring existing drafts if useful, or start with the original prompts supplied for the course.
Use my own work, public-domain material or expressly permitted sources. Sharing personal experiences is optional.
FREE TO DO
Free
Our poetry and writing courses are free to do. We will not charge a course fee for these courses. The published introductory lesson is available now; full teaching materials and any tutor-led sessions will open when ready.
No course fee. Try the open lesson now; full course enrolment is not open yet.
The sample is fictional. It is separate from this course’s future lessons.
A PRACTICAL NEXT STEP
What you’ll be able to do
Outline a story in five actions, then choose the action the reader needs to encounter first.
Write three stanzas in which the same refrain changes meaning as the events develop.
Draft a scene twice, once with every transition and once with a deliberate gap between two decisive actions.
Prepare a narrative poem with a consistent teller, a purposeful ending and a note on what remains untold.
THE TEACHING PLAN
Your next 4 weeks
A clear route through the subject, with something to make, test or reflect on at every stage.
01
MODULE 1
Find the event that moves the poem
Outline a story in five actions, then choose the action the reader needs to encounter first.
Your practical activity
Outline a story in five actions, then choose the action the reader needs to encounter first.
How the plan proposes to check your understanding
Provide the original draft, a revised version and a short craft note explaining the choices behind find the event that moves the poem. Include a source-and-rights note and identify what you chose not to share.
02
MODULE 2
Give a refrain a narrative job
Write three stanzas in which the same refrain changes meaning as the events develop.
Your practical activity
Write three stanzas in which the same refrain changes meaning as the events develop.
How the plan proposes to check your understanding
Provide the original draft, a revised version and a short craft note explaining the choices behind give a refrain a narrative job. Include a source-and-rights note and identify what you chose not to share.
03
MODULE 3
Control pace through omission
Draft a scene twice, once with every transition and once with a deliberate gap between two decisive actions.
Your practical activity
Draft a scene twice, once with every transition and once with a deliberate gap between two decisive actions.
How the plan proposes to check your understanding
Provide the original draft, a revised version and a short craft note explaining the choices behind control pace through omission. Include a source-and-rights note and identify what you chose not to share.
04
MODULE 4
Revise the telling voice
Prepare a narrative poem with a consistent teller, a purposeful ending and a note on what remains untold.
Your practical activity
Prepare a narrative poem with a consistent teller, a purposeful ending and a note on what remains untold.
How the plan proposes to check your understanding
Provide the original draft, a revised version and a short craft note explaining the choices behind revise the telling voice. Include a source-and-rights note and identify what you chose not to share.
PUT IT INTO PRACTICE
Your final project
Prepare a narrative poem with a consistent teller, a purposeful ending and a note on what remains untold. Show how the first three module experiments informed the final result. Personal disclosure and public performance are optional.
What you’ll produce
Outline a story in five actions, then choose the action the reader needs to encounter first.
Write three stanzas in which the same refrain changes meaning as the events develop.
Draft a scene twice, once with every transition and once with a deliberate gap between two decisive actions.
Prepare a narrative poem with a consistent teller, a purposeful ending and a note on what remains untold.
A concise reflection, revision record and source-and-rights note.
What good work looks like
Intent and craft: 30 marks for purposeful choices that the submitted work demonstrates.
Development: 25 marks for meaningful experiments, revision and an explained response to feedback.
Coherence and usability: 25 marks for an integrated portfolio or practical pack suited to its intended audience.
Reflection and sources: 20 marks for clear process notes, honest attribution and appropriate privacy boundaries. Completion requires at least 70/100, all exercises and correction of any unresolved source-rights or privacy issue. Literary taste, personal disclosure, publication acceptance and sales are not marking criteria.
Resources for your learning
An original text-first lesson and worked example for find the event that moves the poem.
An original text-first lesson and worked example for give a refrain a narrative job.
An original text-first lesson and worked example for control pace through omission.
An original text-first lesson and worked example for revise the telling voice.
A course-specific workbook, source-and-rights ledger and a completed project reference.
Captions and transcripts for any recordings produced before launch.
A course you can access
Provide text-first lessons, edited transcripts and captions for every recording.
Support screen readers, keyboard navigation, readable formatting and low-bandwidth downloads.
Offer equivalent written or recorded evidence; live attendance and rapid spoken responses are not required by default.
Allow an invented or indirect writing route and private tutor submission where a subject feels personal. Provide content notes and a clear support boundary before enrolment.
FINISH WITH SOMETHING USEFUL
How you’ll complete the course
Complete the four original exercises and a revision or testing record.
Submit the capstone with a source-and-influence statement and meet the published 70/100 rubric.
Respond to feedback or explain a reasoned decision to retain the original choice.
No public performance, personal disclosure, external publication or commercial sale is required. Completion is internal recognition of assessed work, not external accreditation.
Completion will describe the work you have done. No external accreditation or professional qualification is claimed.
BEFORE ENROLMENT OPENS
What still needs finishing
Course materials and delivery are not ready yet. We’ll update this page before enrolment opens.
Produce and review the four original lessons, exercise sheets and reference submissions for this course.
Confirm tutor availability, relevant experience, feedback arrangements and realistic study time through a pilot.
Clear source and media rights, provide accessible equivalents and keep personal disclosure optional.
Approve the final fee, access period, support, cancellation and refund terms before sale.
Verify paid entitlements and private submission boundaries before enrolment opens.
FURTHER READING
The ideas behind the course
Our poetry curriculum draws on public subject research and our original writing exercises. Linked external sources retain their own authorship and are background references, not our course materials or an endorsement. The full teaching pack still needs production and review.
This is an independently developed Learn Courses subject plan. Its open exercise uses original invented material.
Explore prose poems, fragments and hybrid writing. Use sentence movement, compression and arrangement when a conventional lineated poem is not the best shape.
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