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Slam the book: the role of performance in contemporary UK poetics
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McGowan, Jack (2016) Slam the book: the role of performance in contemporary UK poetics. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b3068720~S1
Abstract
This thesis explores the relationship between performance poetry and page-based poetry and the academic and non-specialist audience for performance poetry in the UK. Performance poetry in the UK is rapidly becoming a popular medium for experiencing poetry and I analyse the impact this has, and will have, in relation to the study of poetics, and the reading of poetry within the public sphere. I have identified three primary areas of research. First, I analyse the reception of performance poetry in the academy. Second, I assess the mechanisms of affect transmission in performance. Finally I interrogate the utilization of space through performance which contributes to the production of social spaces. Alongside an exploration of how these factors construct a different affective experience for the reader I analyse the critical position performance poetry holds in relation to the wider body of poetics. Performance poetry has been relatively absent from critical study of poetry and the formation of a poetic canon in the UK. I contend that there has traditionally been an opposition to performance poetry in the academy, defined along the lines of a ‘high’ and ‘low’ art binary. This is a contention I analyse with focus on the development of UK poetics in the mid-20th century. By assessing the value discourses inherent to an academic appraisal of spoken word I stage a discussion of the pedagogical potential of performance poetry. Combining both the affective capacities of performance and the role performance plays in renegotiating our experiences of social and shared spaces, I argue performance is an important tool for structuring a re-engagement with contemporary poetry. Tracing the potential pedagogical implications of performance poetry through each of these aspects brings the thesis to a conclusion regarding the value of contemporary UK performance poetry and the important pedagogical role it plays. Underpinning my analysis, I conduct interviews with various prominent UK performance poets in order to construct an accurate account of the contemporary performance poetry scene, and to facilitate predictions regarding its future development.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Performance poetry -- Great Britain, English poetry -- 21st century -- History and criticism., English poetry -- 20th century -- History and criticism., Oral interpretation of poetry., Poetry slams., Poetry -- Authorship., Performance art. | ||||
Official Date: | August 2016 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Mason, Emma ; Morley, David | ||||
Extent: | 378 pages | ||||
Language: | eng |
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