IN THE FIRST COUNTRY OF PLACES: ENVIRONMENTAL MEMORY IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN POETRY. (VOLUMES I AND II) (BRONK, IGNATOW, LORDE, PONSOT, WEINFIELD).
Item
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Title
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IN THE FIRST COUNTRY OF PLACES: ENVIRONMENTAL MEMORY IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN POETRY. (VOLUMES I AND II) (BRONK, IGNATOW, LORDE, PONSOT, WEINFIELD).
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Identifier
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AAI8501120
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identifier
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8501120
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Creator
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CHAWLA, LOUISE.
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Contributor
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Leanne Rivlin
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Date
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1984
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, American
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Abstract
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Conceived within the discipline of environmental psychology, this study explores an area in which environmental psychology, developmental psychology, and literature intersect. Its subject is the significance which memories of childhood places retain during poets' creative maturity. The value given to these memories has been mapped within the coordinates of two larger issues: what significance does experience of the physical world have in the development of a poet's work; and what significance does autobiographical memory itself have?;The study begins by reviewing Classical and Romantic theories regarding the value of memory. For the Metaphysical poets Vaughan and Traherne, for Wordsworth and other Romantic writers, and for the Transcendentalists, remembered childhood perception of the world was an important theme. When the issue of the value of places to children has been taken up in developmental psychology, anthropology, geography, and landscape design, quotations from this body of literature liberally appear. Considering that we now live in a world that has altered drastically, both physically and intellectually, and that the meaning of childhood memories may have correspondingly altered, this study has reopened this question with five contemporary American poets. Through a reading of their poetry and prose and through interviews, it has collected their own reminiscence and reflection regarding the importance of childhood environmental memory to them.;As central to this study as its subject is its method. In order to approach the discipline of poetry from within a discipline of social science, it has been necessary to use a method which combines objectivity with human depth and fullness. The study traces the development of hermeneutic phenomenology through the ideas of Husserl, Heidegger, and Gadamer to arrive at a philosophical guide for the conduct of the research. It puts into practice a new ideal of objectivity appropriate for the social sciences, which is to view the subject of inquiry from different sides, through different voices. Accordingly, this study's topic has been pursued with five poets who represent five distinct backgrounds and points of view: David Ignatow, William Bronk, Audre Lorde, Marie Ponsot, and Henry Weinfield.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
