She Thinks She Thinks
Abstract
To create a theory of poetry one must first set out to define the limits of such a theory. The page margins, the attention span, the forty characters of a tweet. Next, a theory must designate situational-contextual localities: bathroom embroidery, anniversary cards, wedding toasts, chocolate candy wrappers, epigraphs to well-known texts, commercial jingles, commencement speeches, funereal programs, etc. Once the theory has determined its situations, it must establish common signifiers, or characteristics. These distinctions are undoubtedly difficult to formulate. Should a theory include the surviving fragments from works destroyed or the unfinished lines of the long deceased? Should a theory make an exception for prose? Who knows. If the limits, situations, and characteristics are clear, then it may be possible to begin to start to endeavor to embark on the design of a methodology for determining if in fact one does actually enjoy a particular poem. Only then is a theory equipped to judge the poem's success. As it is clear that no singular and total theory exists, such an evaluation is here deemed impossible. ^ Just kidding. You'll know immediately.^
Degree
M.F.A.
Advisors
Marianne Boruch, Purdue University, Donald Platt, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Literature, Modern
Off-Campus Purdue Users:
To access this dissertation, please log in to our
proxy server.