ENCW 2300

Kyle is the actual best. They are so understanding and really listen to their students, even being flexible with deadlines, especially around midterms week. The class is painless, with the only work due every week being either to read or write poems. Kyle creates a judgment-free environment that makes you feel safe to be vulnerable, especially if you've never written poetry before. Besides the poetry portfolio of five of the poems you've written over the semester due at the end of the class, there is one 2-3 page essay analyzing one of the poems you read in class, also relatively easy and open for revisions if you don't get the grade you want. There are points for participation, but Kyle was also understanding and flexible about this. This class was fun, easy, and stress-free. If you give it your best, you will likely get an A. Highly recommend!

This class was probably my favorite class all year. I was able to take it for my FWR, but even if it doesn't fill out a requirement for you and you're able to take it, I 1000% would recommend. There were students from many different skill levels, and we were all treated equally and fairly and learned a lot. There is a lot of subjective analysis in this class, so if that's not your thing, maybe stay away, but we only had two papers. Kyle told me I completely missed the prompt on the midterm paper and still gave me an A on it, so I would say that participation is really what they look for when grading. Kyle themself was an amazing instructor. They always made sure we felt supported and understood what was going on, and they were very present, accommodating, and kind. However, I personally had to ask for feedback on my work - they don't just give it to you with the grade - so be aware of that, and we didn't know our grades on any assignments until the end of the semester, so making a C/NC decision was difficult. Not a hard class at all, though.

I really enjoyed this course. We basically read a bunch of poems and then talked about them in class. We also had three workshops, where you bring a poem and everyone talks about your poem and gives you feedback. Everyone was super supportive, understanding, and kind, and I have a newfound interest in poetry.