Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Contemporary British Poetry'

Rooted in reflective practice, this critical study uses a consideration of environment writing to open up and explore the concept of interiority. It argues, with particular recourse to Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s concept of the ‘chiasm’, that the human individual experiences a porous reciprocity between her thought, perception and language and that of her social and physical environment, and that this has implications for any written presentation of ‘nature’ – a contested term that is explored via Timothy Morton’s thinking about environmental aesthetics. The study offers close readings of poems by Michael Haslam and James Schuyler which exemplify a fluid interiority in chiasmic relation with a locale and – drawing from an example of contemporary environment writing – proposes the concept of the feral as a mode of thought which does not so much challenge binarized conceptualizations such as wild/tame, nature/culture (or indeed, interior/exterior) as treat them as irrelevant. It suggests that ferality is particularly suited, therefore, to critical-creative thought. Drawing upon the work of Paul Valéry, Veronica Forrest-Thomson and Simon Jarvis, this thesis argues that to write poetry is to utilize a way of thinking that is distinct from prose and distinctly feral. Consequently, any avowed poetics will always emerge after the event of writing, and will be an incomplete articulation. Bearing this in mind, the study goes on to reflect upon the accompanying poetry collection’s techniques and the compositional practices developed while writing it in order to discern the impact of the research undertaken. Natural Phenomena, the creative portion of this PhD thesis, is a collection of poems responding to the sub/urban locale and to the conceptualizations of ‘nature’ and interiority encountered during the course of study.

Depuis les années 1980, la poésie britannique contemporaine se caractérise par l’émergence de voix minoritaires et la diversité des formes et des pratiques. Cette expansion de la carte poétique est souvent lue à l’aune de ce que Sean O’Brien a décrit comme une dérégulation, en référence aux changements politiques et sociaux qui ont affecté la société britannique depuis le thatchérisme. Cette thèse se propose d’examiner un facteur essentiel de ce phénomène, à savoir la centralité accrue d’une conception du poème comme parole publique. En s’appuyant sur un corpus de poètes présentant des voix minoritaires ou invisibilisées, à mi-chemin entre la poésie spoken word et d’autres pratiques de performance, elle souligne que le pluralisme poétique est le fruit d’une pluralisation du poème même. Le texte poétique se transforme sur d’autres médiums et d’autres formes artistiques (musiques populaires, cinéma, peinture), permettant un décentrement et une remise en question de toute forme de centralité. Le poème hors du livre devient un geste à la fois esthétique et politique. La figure publique du poète que construisent les œuvres est un jeu de masques qui tente de défaire les assignations, entre fiction et parole lyrique. Le poème comme parole publique problématise le rapport du corps au texte en performance, mais aussi la matérialité du poème sur la page. Ce faisant, il interroge donc nos modes de réception de la poésie contemporaine. De même, le rapport structurel de cette poésie à la présence d’une communauté durant la performance suppose d’envisager des figures du commun et de la parole collective malgré la multiplication, voire l’éclatement, du poème sur une pluralité de médiums
Since the 1980s, contemporary British poetry has been characterized by the emergence of minority voices and a diversity of forms and practices. That expansion of the poetic map is often read through what Sean O’Brien called a deregulation, in reference to the social and political changes which have influenced British society since Thatcherism. This thesis looks at a central aspect of that phenomenon: the development of a conception of the poem as public utterance. By focusing on a range of poets representing minority backgrounds or unheard voices and working across spoken word poetry and other types of performance poetry, it demonstrates that poetic diversity is the result of a pluralization of the poem itself. Poems are transformed by other mediums and by exchanges with other art forms (popular music, cinema, painting) which in turn questions hierarchies and dominant poetic forms. Poetry off the page becomes both an aesthetic and political experiment. The poet’s public figure constructed by the poems is an elusive mask which oscillates between fiction and lyrical poetry. The poem as public utterance interrogates the relationship of the body to the text in performance, as well as the materiality of the poem on the page. In so doing, it also questions the way contemporary poetry is received and discussed. Similarly, in spite of the multiplication or atomization of the poem on several mediums, the structural relationship of this type of poetry with the presence of a community in performance creates representations of the community and collective utterance

This PhD presents a new term for contemporary ekphrastic poetry: curatorial ekphrasis. The thesis is composed of two elements, a critical essay followed by a collection of poetry that informs and is informed by the former, Entitled 'Curatorial Ekphrasis in Contemporary British Poetic Practice', the critical essay challenges established critical approaches to ekphrastic poetics by revealing a curatorial practice currently being undertaken by a number of contemporary poets writing about artworks. Chapter One identifies and evaluates key critical texts about ekphrasis and its role in the relationship between word and image and highlights how theorists have failed to account for the work of ekphrastic poets with a heightened interest or background in art- Chapter Two presents and defines the term curatorial ekphrasis. The chapter discusses the emergence of the contemporary curator in the art world and discusses how the term 'curator' can be appropriated for use in a literary context The following chapters analyse the work of contemporary poets who I argue are writing curatorial ekphrasis, Chapter Three analyses Roger Hilton's Sugar (2005), a poetic sequence by Kelvin Corcoran (b.1956). Chapter Four analyses Paul Klee's Diary (1995), a long poem by Peter Hughes (b.1956). Chapter Five analyses De Chirico's Threads (2011), a verse-drama with soundscape by Carol Rumens (b.1944). The conclusion summarizes my research and also anticipates the creative work, which follows, by highlighting elements in the analysed texts that resonate with my own poetry. The conclusion also suggests areas for future research by both critical and creative practitioners. The critical essay is followed by the creative component of the PhD, a collection of curatorial ekphrasis entitled 'Lucian Freud Portraits'. The poetry collection is sectioned into five rooms, reflecting the layout of an exhibition at an art gallery, The collection includes twenty-nine poems and a poem-libretto. The collection is precede-d by a Preface, which introduces the work, and is followed by a section of notes, The appendix of the thesis includes reproductions of the artworks referred to in the poetry collection, a chronology of Lucian Freud's life, a catalogue raisonne of his entire works and an extensive bibliography of material written about the artist and his works. This information is provided in a similar manner to the wall notes, exhibition guides and catalogues which are offered to visitors of a traditional art gallery. They are not prescribed reading material, but they may prove of interest to the reader seeking further information.