Whether you love Emily Dickinson’s slanted rhyme, Allen Ginsberg’s beats, or Langston Hughes’ Renaissance jazz, you have many college options to study this literary art form. If you’d like to pursue your passion for poetry in college — be it writing, history, analysis, or performance — the expert counselors at IvyWise have identified five great schools where you can find poetic inspiration.
Bucknell University: Lewisburg, PA
As part of the English program at Bucknell University, the creative writing major presents the opportunity for emerging poets to focus on developing and experimenting with their craft while studying the works of others. The creative writing curriculum offers a variety of poetry courses and workshops, including “Ecopoetics,” “Poetry, Mind, Nature,” and “Long Poems & Sequences Workshop.” Students must complete a Creative Writing Culminating Experience their senior year, which includes a thesis and creative portfolio. A creative writing minor is also offered for students who wish to pursue a less intensive program of study and practice in poetry.
Bucknell’s English Department also offers ample opportunities for students to immerse themselves in poetry outside of the classroom. The Stadler Center for Poetry & Literary Arts frequently hosts poetry readings and publishes Bucknell’s literary magazine, West Branch, which provides internship opportunities for creative writing majors. Students can participate in craft talks with visiting poets as well as writers in conversation events. The Poet-in-Residence program allows students to work with renowned national and international poets individually or in groups.
Located in the small, historic town of Lewisburg, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Bucknell University comprises 450 acres and has an undergraduate student population of almost 3,900. Students can choose from among 64 majors and more than 200 student-led clubs and organizations. The Bucknell Bison include 25 intercollegiate athletic teams that compete in NCAA Division I.
University of Virginia: Charlottesville, VA
Nationally renowned for its MFA program in poetry and fiction writing, the University of Virginia is also an excellent choice for undergrads. Combining writing with close reading, the Area Program in Poetry Writing is a two-year concentration in the English program. This small, competitive program requires students to complete 12 hours of upper-level coursework in poetry writing and two poetics seminars.
Course offerings change each semester but focus on topics such as “Animal Print (or, Poems that Bark, Chirp, Buzz & Squeak),” “Mystery and Clarity,” and “Cutting Up: Collage, Play, & Resistance.” The program culminates in a capstone course in which students produce an original poetry manuscript.
Advanced undergraduates are given opportunities to engage with visiting writers and poets. The Writer-in-Residence program brings internationally known writers to campus to teach and engage with students.
A top-ranked public university nationally, UVA has an enrollment of approximately 17,000 undergraduates. Students can pursue a diverse range of interests through the 700+ clubs on campus and engage in community service opportunities, which are central to UVA’s mission. The Cavaliers — the 27 varsity sports teams also known as the Hoos — compete in NCAA Division I.
Learn how to get into UVA.
Sarah Lawrence College: Bronxville, NY
Offering a nationally renowned writing program that incorporates collaborative student workshops, Sarah Lawrence College is a great option for aspiring poets. The poetry curriculum within the writing major begins with a first-year, student-themed seminar, such as “Hybrids of Poetry and Prose,” while subsequent courses explore the creation, history, and meaning of poetry: “The Distinctive Voice in Poetry,” “Kitchen Sink Poetics” and “On Collecting/Collections.”
The annual Sarah Lawrence College Poetry Festival (the largest free, student-run poetry festival in New York State) lets students take their passion beyond the classroom. Students can also submit their poetic work to campus literary publications: Dark Phrases, The Sarah Lawrence College Literary Review, and Lumina.
Sarah Lawrence, a co-ed, liberal arts college — where students can pursue disciplines in humanities, sciences, history, or the arts — has a unique curriculum that allows its approximately 1,500 students to design an individualized program tailored to their intellect and interests.
Occupying a sprawling 40 acres in Bronxville, just north of New York City, Sarah Lawrence offers a diverse array of clubs and events for students to enjoy. The Gryphons complete in NCAA Division III athletics.
University of Chicago: Chicago, IL
The creative writing program at the University of Chicago prides itself on being a critical part of intellectual life on campus, providing students with opportunities to engage in interdisciplinary studies as they focus on either fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Students enrolled in the creative writing program can pursue a major or minor.
For the major, students must complete a beginning workshop, two technical seminars, and at least one advanced workshop in their chosen genre. Literature courses, such as “Culture and the Police,” “Medieval Romance,” and “What is Literature For?: Theories of Literary Value,” provide students with a foundation in historical and contemporary literary theory and practice. Students also choose two electives that influence their work. Creative writing majors can opt to complete a senior thesis or project, while minors have the option of completing a creative portfolio in their primary genre.
Beyond the classroom, students can attend readings and lectures by visiting authors and poets. Of particular interest to poetry lovers is the Program in Poetry and Poetics, which hosts the poetry reading series, Poem Present. Students can also submit work for the Ron Offen Poetry Prize, which awards $300 and the opportunity to participate in a reading with a Chicago-based poet.
Located in the eclectic Hyde Park neighborhood south of downtown Chicago, the University of Chicago offers its nearly 7,700 undergrads a world-class education with all the benefits of living in a major metropolitan area. The 217-acre Hyde Park campus is a botanic garden, with numerous display gardens spread throughout. Students can participate in any of the 350+ campus organizations, 39 intramural sports clubs, and 18 intercollegiate athletic teams.
Kenyon College: Gambier, OH
Kenyon College is nationally recognized for its strong creative writing program, a sub-concentration of the school’s English department — the college’s largest. Students can take writing courses at both the introductory and advanced levels, ranging from “Prosody and Poetics” to “Poetry and the Visual Arts,” as well as courses dedicated to certain periods in poetry: Renaissance, postcolonial, Victorian, 17th century, contemporary, and modern.
At this private liberal arts college, students can apply to the Kenyon Review Student Associates Program for an opportunity to work on the Kenyon Review — one of the most respected literary journals in the U.S. The English Department also hosts readings by resident and visiting writers and awards prizes to students with a talent for poetry, fiction writing, or literary criticism. Students can also apply for the Kenyon-Exeter Program to study literature at the University of Exeter in England for a year.
Kenyon’s campus is spread over 1,200 rural acres in Central Ohio. Often highlighted for its outstanding theater and athletic facilities, Kenyon is the oldest private college in Ohio and has been named “the most beautiful small college campus in America” by The New Yorker. President Rutherford B. Hayes, Academy-Award winning actor and philanthropist Paul Newman, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet James Wright, and Academy Award-winning actress Allison Janney are all alumni.
Whether you have been constructing iambic pentameter for years or have just started reciting reverse rhyme, these colleges each offer unique ways to pursue your poetic passion: You can sign up for intensive poetry-focused curriculums, work on a literary journal, or even make a hobby out of reading poetry from a college’s library collection. Consider these five schools as you begin your college search!
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