The Lyric Essay: Borrowed Forms for Play and Discovery

The lyric essay welcomes experimentation, but it also borrows from some set forms not normally associated with a traditional essay: the list; the collage; the braid; the hermit crab. Surprisingly, at times, a strict formal structure allows for more tender material to find a home in your writing.

In this generative online writing class, each class will be devoted to exploring a different form of the lyric essay. We will glean our invitations for writing from sample essays and end the course with a reading of short lyric essays written during our time together.