From Near Darkness: Experimenting a Way Into Contemporary Poetry

Abstract

This thesis explores the creative process of writing poetry through the course of fourteen months, beginning in March 2014 through May 2015. These poems are organized around different theoretical influences and demonstrate an intentional course of action in attempting to write engaging verse that it current with today’s publishable modes, thoughts, and forms. My purpose was to begin with the little knowledge of contemporary poetry I had, and by reading and engaging poet’s work from the last fifty years, experiment my way into publication and discover for myself a positive and productive method of working. These poems are introduced by a process/ contextualization essay that frames the four sections of verse with the philosophical lenses I was using as I wrote them and follows my thoughts as I put each group together. As a whole, they form a snapshot of a rigorously creative time and demonstrate a progression in thought from Postmodernism to lyricism