This generative workshop springboards from Edna St. Vincent Millay’s magisterial work in the sonnet to engage the contemporary use of the form. We will study Millay’s sonnets as well as the sonnet work of contemporary poet Diane Seuss, and we will look at ways that the sonnet can free the voice to speak directly of troubled love and trouble in general. The workshop begins with reading and discussion of four sonnets, two by Millay and two by Seuss, and then moves into prompts based on these poems, concluding with opportunity to share and if desired receive critique of one’s poetry written in this workshop.

This is an in-person class that will be held at Millay House Rockland.

This workshop is FREE to members of Millay House Rockland.

If you’re not a member, you can register for $50 and your purchase will include a membership.

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Instructor Claire Millikin is the author of ten books of poetry, including Magicicada (Unicorn Press 2024). Millikin is a recipient of an Independent Book Award Distinguished Favorite (2025), the Charles Simic Prize, Editor’s Choice (2023), and a Maine Literary Award (2021). Claire Millikin lives in Owls Head, Maine, and teaches for the University of Maine system.