Date of Award

6-1-2011

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences

First Advisor

W. Scott Howard, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Selah Saterstrom

Third Advisor

Sarah Pessin

Keywords

Cole Swensen, Daniel Dennett, Experimental writing, Multiple drafts model, Philosophy of mind, Poetics

Abstract

This project compares the operational methods of three of Cole Swensen's books of poetry (Such Rich Hour, Try, and Goest) with ways in which the human mind and consciousness function. I use Daniel Dennett's Multiple Drafts Model of consciousness, as described in Consciousness Explained, alongside concepts presented in several other philosophical works (from both analytic and continental traditions), to demonstrate that significant similarities exist between the operations of poetry and consciousness in general, and that these operational similarities are especially noticeable in Swensen's work. This thesis examines several operational modes that are present within the human mind (intentionality, phenomenological perception, a materialist process of formation, etc.), as they are contingent upon the Multiple Drafts Model, and constructs a theory of how these same concepts and principles function within Swensen's poetic texts.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Connor Ryan Kreimeyer Fisher

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

72 p.

Discipline

Modern literature, Philosophy, American literature

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