I'm a student of poetry who has experienced the University system from BA to PhD. Workshopping can happen anywhere and with anyone and vary in its usefulness. I believe it is critical to see how others react to your work and whether that reaction is the intended one or if confused imagery or poor choice of wording dilutes what the poem is trying to say. This type of engagement can take place in a formal and informal environment and is very much dependent on the people around you. Creative writing courses can't teach imagination but they do throw a group of creative individuals together where collaboration occurs. I am continually learning from my supervisor and the students around me. Creative writing courses should teach the history of poetry and the forms, basically the tools of the trade. It is about giving people the knowledge to develop their voices in an intelligent way. That is why it is vital to pick your course carefully. My BA was more a three-year workshop while my MA was a lesson in history and form. I will always advocate creative writing studies because they encourage experimentation and craft in poetry, something which, in my experience, writers who only workshop in local groups tend to avoid, perhaps because they are seeking creative outlets rather than to master a skill. In my experience critiquing is also genteel in these environments. Although they can be useful, you are not guaranteed honest feedback while in an academic environment your work is almost always under intense scrutiny. It could also be argued that the publishing industry is more to blame for enforcing definitions on what is and isn't good poetry than universities. 

On Mon, Apr 30, 2018 at 10:07 AM, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

I find local poetry workshops fun gets this ancient out a couple of times a month -good to meet others and just reading out one's work sort of airs it usefully

cheers P old grumpy


On 29/04/2018 21:34, Luke wrote:
While CW course invariably consist of work-shopping, I think that some criticisms of the former just don't apply to the latter. One can workshop heterogeneously, surely.

Thanks,
Luke

On 29 April 2018 at 21:24, Reuben Woolley <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Indifferent mainly. For some it works and for others it doesn't. I'm wary of it for the same reasons I'm wary of Creative Writing studies. I fear a heterodoxous production of poetry where 'this' is right and 'that' is wrong, but I'm not going to criticise all Creative Writing postgrad courses for this. It doesn't happen in as many universities as in my nightmares. The academy doesn't always win or even try to win!

Reuben

On 29 April 2018 at 21:21, Luke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Work-shopping: any hate / love for it?

Luke