Although I've read and written poetry for my own pleasure for about twenty years now, I've only seriously studied and written poetry on a consistent basis for the past two years. In this sense, I still consider myself a beginning poet. When attempting to pursue an art form as refined and historically informed as poetry, only after spending a number of years reading and writing intensively would I no longer consider myself a beginner, but a practitioner of the art. I've grounded my early development as a poet in concision, voice, and imagination, and hope to build upon these ideas with other poetic techniques, theories, and forms as I go forward. I am particularly interested in mastering the sonnet form, a concise and imaginative form that will allow me to further develop my skills. Hopefully, the works in this thesis reflect that effort.

"It is with one of the publishing awards available to young poets that this study is concerned, namely, the Yale Series of Younger Poets, which has been offered since 1919 by the Yale University Press. Because this award was initiated to furnish a medium of publication for a first volume by a young poet as a stimulus to further writing, this writer was interested in determining whether this award proved to be an incentive to further writing by the individuals of the group. This study, therefore, is an attempt to determine if the first forty poets represented in the Series continued writing after their first publication, and if so, in what media, and if further literary recognition was awarded to any of the group"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1953." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: Agnes Gregory, Professor Directing Study. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-105).

A collection of poems.

A long poem.

Submitted in fullfillment of the requirements fot the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of African languages at the University of Zululand, 1994. / This study has been made possible by our desire to analyse critically p.B.Z.Ntuli's poetic contributions. An examination of the various themes covered by Ntuli in his poetry received our particular attention and scrutiny. Emphasis was, however, on the techniques this literary artist has used to relay meaning to his readers. An attempt was made to assess and evaluate his poetry in order to examine more closely the degree of Ntuli's success in the delivery of meaning to his audience. It is hoped that in the final analysis, this study will spell out some of the devices or techniques that can effectively portray meaning in Zulu poetry. The first chapter gives in brief outline what our aim in this study is. Our concern over the rigid following of Western structural poetic patterns, at the expense of the primary essentials of poetry, has been indicated. An attempt has also been made to map out, in brief, the scope and approach and direction that we shall follow in the scrutiny of meaning in Ntuli's poetry. The second chapter deals with the theme on historic events in mankind - those unforgettable events that befell the people in general or a particular portion of the society. Events through tragic accidents and those religiously based have been treated. In the third chapter we shall look closely into those poems that deal with a musical theme. These range from mere appreciation of music to the glorification of a particular composer. The discussion in the fourth chapter is prompted by the poet's love and appreciation of nature. This chapter therefore, explores those poems on the theme on nature. The fifth chapter handles poems on the religious theme. These range from the ordinary praise of God's creation to fears about the final judgement day. In chapter six we examine poems on water. Rain-water as a source of life as well as severe effects of drought have been given our attention. In the penultimate seventh chapter we shall scrutinise the poems that explore the death theme. The eighth and final chapter will be a general conclusion which will contain the main findings and observations made in this study.

A dissertation submitted in fulfillment for the requirements of the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of African Languages at the University of Zululand, 2001. / An investigation into Zulu poetry.

A few things that influenced this collection of poems: shifting memory, mirroring, opposites, river rapids, patterns that repeat and spread both in the natural world and in writing... rhizomatic root systems, veins, an aerial view of rivers...

The Speculative Trunk is concerned with the body. Where poems are ideas they are also things always. The physical body of a poem receives certain treatment by the human body engaged in consuming it. But, speaking generally, the bodies of poems have tended to be dictated, not by play within a vital contextual space, but by tradition and the limitations of material means of replication. The Speculative Trunk is an adventure; a mess; a re-fleshing of the body of the poem. This concern extends beyond to text to the human bodies that handle a work, or your hand. These poems speak of and circulate around the anxieties of the human body - its dangers, its pleasures, and its frailties - often in the same instance. Here again the poem's essential parts - its ingredients and its heat - intertwine, engage, and mingle - to be handled, to be made of.

The imposed I. Inherited I. The pressured, defended I. The chosen and hidden I. The I that changes as its circumstances change. I that seems cousin or sister to other iterations of I. The I in its recognizable continuity, the I in its puzzling discontinuity. Is there an intrinsic I? That would have been in any circumstance, any moment in history, any culture? The poems in this thesis consider the I(s) that is(are) now and those curious moments when an I recognizes another--a might have been, or was but is no more, or a may be one day--I.

A book of American poetry, by a person displaced within the country.