On Sentiment: How to Effectively Navigate Emotions in Our Poetry Workshop with David McLoghlin

In Partnership with Irish Writers Centre

Join award-winning poet David McLoghlin for a unique generative course in how to navigate feelings and sentimentality in our poetry. The key in poetry is to infuse work with the right balance of sentiment so that it does not veer into sentimentality. Often, we either have too much feeling in our rough drafts, or not enough. This masterclass is dedicated to reading and discussing poems from a variety of literary traditions. We will look to them for examples of how to open a poem, and how syntax and word choice can play a large part in our success. We will study what we might include and leave out, and how poetic closure can play a big part in producing successful work. We will also spend some time practicing a variety of anti-sentimental techniques via prompts and in-class generative exercises.

David McLoghlin’s third collection, Crash Centre (Salmon Poetry, 2024) was shortlisted for the 2025 Pigott Prize, Ireland’s most valuable poetry prize. He won The Waterford Poetry Prize in 2025 and in 2025 was awarded an Arts Council Literature Bursary for memoir. He has taught and featured at organisations like New York University, Cork International Poetry Festival, West Cork Literary Festival, Sunken Garden Poetry Festival (USA), Literatur und Wein (Austria), Sofia Metaphors (Bulgaria) and the Irish Writers Centre.

Image credit: Miles Lowry