Poetics of Imagination
A Course in Story, Poetry and the Oral Arts
September 2026 – April 2027
Poetics of Imagination is a unique, innovative course that brings together artistic creativity, poetic wisdom and philosophical inquiry. Delving into myths, drama, wisdom traditions, story and poetry, we draw from their unique goodness and enduring relevance and unleash the extraordinary energy they have to offer the world of today.
Marrying practice with reflection and creativity with inquiry, we will explore epochal myths, track poems on the land, converse with the flow of rivers and learn from the timeless, astonishing resources that lie deep in the wellspring of the imagination.
This course uniquely draws on the gifts of the oral arts as a source of inspiration for future generation of thinkers and artists. No previous experience is necessary: we welcome deep thinkers, writers, storytellers, songwriters, activists, practitioners, farmers, dreamers and students of all backgrounds and paths in life.
Offered in the caring and convivial spirit of Schumacher education, now in it’s 4th year Poetics of Imagination is an extraordinary opportunity to explore the poetic imagination as a unique pathway into what makes us human, and thus singularly entangled with others and with the more-than-human universe.
The course takes place both in person and online over the duration of 3 modules, dates for the in person residencies are:
Module 1: 18 - 28 September 2026
Module 2: 22 Jan - 1 Feb 2027
Module 3: 5 -17 April 2027
Costs:
Module 1- £2200, Module 2 - £2200, Module 3 - £2500, Full programme - £5700
If you are curious about joining this course please complete the following form:
Leading this Course
Dr Valentin Gerlier
Dr Valentin Gerlier, scholar, songwriter, and musician, led the MA Poetics of Imagination programme at Schumacher College and Dartington Arts School. He is also a Tutor and academic board member at the Temenos Academy, a Research Associate at the Margaret Beaufort Institute, Cambridge, and a Visiting Lecturer at several institutions. His latest book is Shakespeare and the Grace of Words (Routledge, 2022).
Valentin's teaching and writing span a wide range of subjects, including Shakespeare, William Blake, Dante, Rainer Maria Rilke, Kathleen Raine, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, W.B. Yeats, Ivan Illich, Heraclitus, John Scotus Eriugena, Nicholas of Cusa, and the Western contemplative and mystical traditions. His current research explores the poetic wisdom of nature in pre-modern texts (e.g., Eriugena, Hildegard of Bingen, and Bernardus Sylvestris), contemplative philosophies of nature, and the poetics and metaphysics of ritual and liturgy.
Valentin holds an MA from the University of Kent and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. He has published in journals such as Journal of the Philosophy of Education, Heythrop Journal, Religions, Medieval Mystical Theology, Temenos Academy Review, and Modern Theology.
Alice Oswald
Alice Oswald co-led MA poetics of Imagination at Schumacher College and Dartington Arts School. She studied Classics at Oxford and then trained as a gardener. She has written six collections of poetry.
In 2019, she took up the post of Oxford Professor of Poetry. Her most recent collection, Nobody, reworks Homer's The Odyssey. Her first collection, The Thing in the Gap-Stone Stile (1996), won the Forward poetry prize for best first collection. In 2002, she won the TS Eliot for Dart, about the river in Devon.
