Beginning Formal Poetry

We celebrate our Catholic tradition and the arts that spring from that dynamic seed. We offer all people of good will the opportunity to explore, learn, and grow with like-minded writers, students, and appreciators of written words that honor the Trinitarian God.In our mission, we sponsor theCatholic Poetry Society of Houston, theFearless Catholic Writing Camp, and Fearless Catholic After-School Programs.We also host monthly meetings of writers, publishers, and editors associated with the Catholic arts scene. We host mini-retreats combining spiritual reflection and the arts. We invite you to join us! All of our events retain a deep awareness of the spiritual patrimony and treasures of the Church.

Catholic Literary Arts

Learn the basics of metrical verse and its most common historical forms in three class meetings on October 5, 12, and 19, 2026.

The focus of our time together will be familiarity and effective use of metrical feet and rhyme. We will cover poetry terminology, such as the types of metrical feet, types of rhyme, elision, enjambment, and learn to recognize accented and unaccented syllables. We'll also learn how master poets before us have used formal verse in exemplars, such as a Shakespearean sonnet, a ballad, a villanelle, and a sestina. Our discussion will dip into such common poetic goals as the effective use of concreteness, the volta (or turn), repetition, tension, and intension/extension. However, our primary focus will be on how to successfully navigate the rhythm of stressed and unstressed syllables in metrical verse, how to identify metrical feet, how to use them in our written poems, and what the common rules are for their effective use. The course will include in-class exercises, weekly writing of poems at home, and written critiques of poetry homework from the instructor. Author BiographyV. Paige Parker has an MFA in Creative Writing with a focus on formal poetry from the University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas. She is a first-place winner and four-time finalist in Catholic Literary Arts poetry contests. Her poetry has appeared in Integrated Catholic Life, The Society of Classical Poets, The Clayjar Review, and New Verse Review, among others. Her Substack can be found at <a href="https://substack.com/@vpaigeparker" title="https://substack.com/@vpaigeparker" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://substack.com/@vpaigeparker</a>. This class will include:· Lecture· Discussion· In-Class Exercises· Homework· Feedback from professor· Workshop· Handouts

Beginning Formal Poetry

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Beginning Formal Poetry

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