The lyric "I" and the anti-confessionalism of Frederick Seidel : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
Loading...
Date
2019
DOI
Open Access Location
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Massey University
Rights
The Author
Abstract
This thesis investigates the anti-Confessionalist status of the lyric “I” in
the poetry of Frederick Seidel and in a collection of my own poems.
Seidel’s use of autobiographical details, including his own name, in his
poems has been treated by critics as an invitation to identify the lyric “I”
with the poet himself. His poetry has been discussed by both his admirers
and his detractors in a Confessional context. To his admirers, Seidel
extends the Confessional poetry tradition in exciting ways, breaking new
taboos as he incorporates details from his glamorous, privileged lifestyle
into his poems. To his detractors, he is a retrograde reactionary, stale and
derivative. I argue that although Seidel uses Confessional strategies, and
owes obvious debts to Confessional poets, his poetry is fundamentally
outward rather than inward looking; it is a poetry of cultural critique, and
not of personal revelation. This outward looking focus also distinguishes
Seidel’s poetry from various post-avant poetics that, in their own
sophisticated ways, are as concerned with the subjective, lyric “I” as
Confessional poetry is. I argue that in Frederick Seidel’s poetry, the lyric
“I” is of interest insofar as it provides a means of cultural critique—a
way of interrogating the complicity of the individual in its engagement
with capitalism in its various aspects.
In the poems that comprise the creative component of my thesis,
the influence of Seidel is evident in their tone, their outward focus, and
their limited interest in the lyric “I.” I have attempted in these poems to
get beyond the absorption with the self that I perceive to be a besetting
quality in much contemporary mainstream poetry. The various post-avant poetics explored in my research seem in their own ways deeply invested in the lyric “I.” Seidel’s poems offered other possibilities, other ways of representing the subject in the world, and of critiquing that world, that I could use in my own poems.
Description
Keywords
Seidel, Frederick, Criticism and interpretation, American poetry, 20th century, History and criticism, Self in literature, New Zealand poetry, 21st century, Upperton, Tim, Night we ate the baby