Document Type
Honors Thesis
Major
English
Advisor(s)
Kathleen Ellis
Committee Members
Hollie Adams, Jennifer Moxley, Frédéric Rondeau, Kathryn Slott
Graduation Year
May 2023
Publication Date
Spring 2023
Abstract
This creative project, an original poetry manuscript and disquisition, aims to explore and demonstrate the power of poetic constraint — self-imposed rules in poetry. I wrote the poems within the tradition of lyric poetry, and therefore they reflect my personal experiences and feelings. Many of the poems reflect an experience that is best described as limerence, the psychological term for an intense, lasting “crush.” As I distilled my feelings into poetry, I used both traditional methods of constraint, such as the sonnet and the ghazal, and innovative ones, such as selecture, my own variation on erasure. I found that constraint is liberating. Thanks to constraints such as rhyme scheme, I imbued my poetry with beauty and musicality, breaking subconscious constraints to discover unexpected turns of phrase. Writing this manuscript strengthened my conviction that poetic constraint is liberating. Therefore, I intend to continue exploring the potential of poetic constraint in future work.
Rights and Access Note
Copyright 2023 Ouellette All Rights Reserved
Recommended Citation
Ouellette, Rachel, "Beagle Music: The Liberating Power of Poetic Constraint" (2023). Honors College. 795.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/795