The thesis comprises an essay and a collection of poems written in an attempt to define my perception of the external world, and my reaction to that world. The essay seeks to explain a recent development in my poetic theory.
In the essay, "Universal And Particular," I begin by describing my first awareness of the simultaneous and uncontradictory phenomena of universality and particularity as they appear in nature. From there I state that this awareness informs the poet's view of nature and his position in nature.
To this end I go to the works and statements of several poets principally my three chief personal influences, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and Charles Olson and assess them in terms of the awareness of universality and particularity as apprehended by each poet. My main point is that the poem emerges from a moment when both phenomena are most intensely present to the poet.
I then proceed to discuss my own poems from the basis of my poetic stand.
"Points On The Grid: Part One Of The Poems," is a collection of poems with which I hope both to state and demonstrate my premise as stated in the essay.
"The Husband: Part Two Of The Poems," is a later collection, in which I am no longer didactic, but have, I hope, assimilated what I believe about universality and particularity, directly into the action of the poems, which then become an attempt on the larger matter of poetic form.Arts, Faculty ofEnglish, Department ofGraduat
