A Poetic Poioumenon: Coterie and Ekphrasis in David Lehman's "The Breeders' Cup"

<p>David Lehman’s poem “The Breeders’ Cup” uses cross-generational coterie and ekphrasis to create a poetic poioumenon. When read in terms of art criticism, Lehman’s “The Breeders’ Cup” models creative processes from the past and calls for a rehabilitative ethic in postmodern poetics. Lehman follows the ekphrastic form, which associates a poem with a work of visual art, from his New York School predecessor Frank O’Hara. “The Breeders’ Cup” addresses Édouard Manet’s 1865 painting <em>Olympia </em>through ekphrasis, and the painting of a prostitute becomes a patron saint of parody for postmodern poetics. The poem introduces lust as a metaphor for creative energy whose productive potential inspires meaningful works of art. The speaker self-consciously references lust as creative energy for producing “The Breeders’ Cup” and artworks of the past while modeling a process of rehabilitation for the future.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year dc:date.available

2015

Author dc:creator

• Rowe, Anna Beth

Contributors dc:contributor

• Monika Gehlawat
• Angela Ball
• Luis Iglesias

• David Lehman
• Frank O'Hara
• Ekphrasis
• Coterie
• Poioumenon
• avant-garde
• poetics
• Manet
• Pollock
• American Literature
• Art Practice
• Contemporary Art
• Interdisciplinary Arts and Media
• Theory and Criticism

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/136

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1140