27th Annual Student Research Conference
The Poem as Argument: Attempts to Persuade the Reader with Image and Music
Conor J. Gearin
Dr. James D'Agostino, Faculty Mentor
Reading the work of Robert Pinsky, including poems such as “Stupid Meditation on Peace” and “Essay on Psychologists,” has interested me in poems that seek to present a coherent argument or political statement while still operating as works of art. In the following poems, I experiment with using the tools of poetry to persuade, and try to incorporate rhetorical elements that are less common in poetry. Some of the poems are image-driven, relying on the reader’s digestion of the images to create an antiwar argument. One makes use of the tone and tactics of a propaganda pamphlet to advocate for independence from political movements and ideas. Most touch on historical narratives and criticize or revise them. With all of them, I seek to better understand strategies that can be used to convince readers of different ways of seeing the world.
Keywords: Creative Writing, Poetry, Robert Pinsky, Persuasion and Rhetoric
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 110-5
Location: VH 1236
Time: 9:00