Reluctant sublime

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This dissertation consists of two parts: a critical essay on the Canadian poet Anne Carson's place in the lineage of confessional poetry, as well as a book-length poetry manuscript, entitled "Anne's Carson's 'The Glass Essay': Confessional Evolution Through Scholarly Intervention." The critical essay argues that Carson's poem, "The Glass Essay" not only manifests traits common to the American confessional tradition, but also represents a new stage of confessional verse in its combination of confessional and scholarly techniques.