Why a Duck? Self, Locality, Community, and Relevance in the Work of Charles Bernstein and Susan Howe

John Witte

Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Zamsky, Robert

Keywords

Charles Bernstein, Susan Howe, Duck, Cosmic, Psychic Poetry

Area of Concentration

Literature

Abstract

This thesis examines the poetry and essays of two contemporary poets, Charles Bernstein and Susan Howe. The purpose in doing this is to examine their relationship to each other in light of the aesthetic tendency known as Language Poetry as well as to examine the significance of Language Poetry as a whole. In the first chapter, I study the dissolution of the self in both authors�work. In the second chapter, the concept of �locality� as it is understood by the midcentury poet, Charles Olson, is explored in relation to the writers. In the third chapter, the formation of Language Poetry is analyzed in terms of the generic difference between the essay and the poem. This thesis is an attempt to understand the relationship that experimental writing has to society as a whole, especially a movement like Language Poetry, which is part of a strictly formalist tradition.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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