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The Winter Quarter 2025 schedule for the Workshop in Poetics has been announced! Please see our Events page for details and RSVP links.

A Hub for Research in Poetry and Poetics

The Center gathers resources at Stanford for the theoretical and historical study of poetry. Its several activities convene a community of scholars, students, poets, and others in the Bay Area and beyond. As an institution, the Center honors Stanford's long tradition of theory and criticism of poetry in many languages, carrying that tradition forward with new approaches and perspectives.

The Workshop in Poetics

Since 2007, a venue for sharing projects outside of disciplinary and national limits.

The central activity of the Center, the Workshop in Poetics has long offered Ph.D. students and visitors a place to present work in progress in a close community of peers. Recent visitors have included Karen Emmerich, Stephanie Burt, Jennifer Scappettone, Virginia Jackson, Timothy Hampton, John Kerrigan, and Gregory Jusdanis. 

A Legacy of Field-Defining Ideas

Several of the Center's activities evoke Stanford's distinctive voices in poetry and poetics. The annual Marjorie Perloff Lecture honors the distinguished critic (1931-2024) by hosting prominent speakers on modern, often experimental poetics. The Yvor Winters Conversations commemorate the influential New Critic and poet (1900-1968) in regular encounters between poets and scholars. The Paul Kiparsky Seminars explore comparative metrics and prosody in tribute to the recently retired linguist (b. 1941), who has attended the Workshop in Poetics for many years. The legacy continues in the work of many Stanford faculty and Ph.D. students who will shape the field now and in the future. 

Join Us

Marisa Galvez, Faculty Director
Department of French and Italian
(650) 723-1918
mgalvez@stanford.edu

Mahdi Alaoui, Co-Chair
Department of English
aa4473@stanford.edu

Jonatan Tadmor, Co-Chair
Department of Comparative Literature
jtadmor@stanford.edu