Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Wallace, Miriam

Area of Concentration

Literature

Abstract

As poets and as figures in the literary community, Charles Olson and Robert Creeley greatly influenced the trajectory of technical and stylistic development of the mid-20th century. Olson’s pamphlet Projective Verse is widely referenced by poets as means of evaluating and developing their work, and Creeley’s sentiment about content as an extension of form has become pervasive in the field. This study approaches these figures through the temporal lens and attempts to locate the extents to which each poet is in temporal motion or evading it. Although the conclusion is that neither poet fully occupies either a temporal or atemporal mode, both are projective in their ability to bring temporal spheres together to function in unity. Olson’s works are considered through conventional close reading, while the analysis of Creeley features both the conventional and the digital approach.

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