The Art of Brevity: Short Stories, Poetry, and Creative Nonfiction

This course celebrates the power of short forms—stories, poems, and essays that reveal entire worlds in just a few pages or lines. Together we will explore how writers compress experience, emotion, and meaning into work that resonates long after the final word. From Emily Dickinson’s lightning-bolt poems to contemporary flash fiction and essays, we’ll study how brevity sharpens language and magnifies impact. Along the way, we’ll pay close attention to characterization, point of view, imagery, metaphor, and the craft of the sentence, uncovering the tools that give short works their intensity. Readings will range from timeless classics such as stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Leo Tolstoy to cutting-edge contemporary voices including Samanta Schweblin and Ottessa Moshfegh, with discussions that invite us to think critically and feel deeply.
Continuing Education Units (CEU) : 1.5

You'll walk away with

• Analyze how short-form literature conveys complex ideas, emotions, and narratives with brevity and precision
• Identify and apply key literary techniques such as characterization, point of view, imagery, metaphor, and sentence craft in short works
• Compare classic and contemporary short-form texts to understand evolving styles, themes, and the enduring power of concise storytelling

Ideal for

• Literature buffs
• All members of the community—working, retired, and in-between