Jaswinder Bolina

Cliché Confidential: How to Avoid Formulaic Constructions in Poetry & Prose

Saturday, June 17, 2023 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. 

Jaswinder Bolina

I have yet to meet a writer who set out to write nothing interesting. Yet, when our writing fails to attract the interest of editors and readers, we’re often at a loss for how and where we went wrong. This seminar will study how choices we make in our diction, syntax, and structure often underlie greater shortcomings in our work. We’ll expand our definition of cliché to understand it not simply as the use of stock phrases, but as a more insidious tendency embedded in our language and thought. We’ll discuss what constitutes a cliché, why we’re so inclined to use clichés, and how we can craft our poetry and prose into original, impactful, and memorable works of art by activating more innovative and singular language.

Required Reading (in Reader):

Bryson, Bill. “My Father, Babe Ruth, and Me.” The New Yorker, 1 April 2001.

Clifton, Lucille. “here yet be dragons.” 1993. The Guardian, 27 March 2023. 

Available online at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/27/poem-of-the-week-here-yet-be-dragons-by-lucille-clifton

Lish, Gordon. “The Merry Chase.” The Antioch Review, vol. 43, No. 1, Winter, 1985, The Merry Chase: Juggling Words and Other Fictions, pp. 5-8.