FMoving towards the end of this semester, its’ becoming more and more apparent the great endeavour the Final Year Project is truly going to be.
A few weeks ago I posted about how to get started and figured it was time for an update. As such, this weeks’ post is dedicated to how I brought my general interest area to an actual research question.
For my FYP, I plan to examine the unique association between poets and mortality and why destructive lifestyles are perpetuated as the price of great poetry.
My general area of research is therefore in modern poetry as I want to look at the phenomenon in terms of its course in the history of poetry and the legacy that has been left for todays’ poets, writers and artists.
Friedrich Nietzsche said; “For art to exist, for any sort of aesthetic activity to exist, a certain physiological precondition is indispensable: intoxication,” so the specific ‘destructive’ habit I wish to pay attention to is substance abuse.
Upon my initial research, while there is a general societal understanding and acceptance of the ‘sacrificial’ artist, with substance abuse often seemingly going hand in hand with creativity, there are very few academic examinations of it in specific areas and modes of creativity, like poetry. As such I feel empowered to pursue a question with no definitive answers yet, making for a much more interesting research process.
I have chosen two writers to pay specific attention to; Elizabeth Bishop and Charles Bukowski. I made this decision based on a number of factors:
- They were both alcoholics which further narrows my research area to one specific stimulant and its use, or abuse, as a tool for creativity.
- They were both born in the first half of the twentieth century and are considered American poets, thus their writings and reactions to events of the time can be compared.
- The choice of one male and one female poet allows for an analysis of how their work compares and contrasts in terms of gendered voices.
As a result my working research question is: ‘Does addiction fuel art or does art fuel addiction? An exploration of the unique association between poetry and alcoholism through the work of Elizabeth Bishop and Charles Bukowski.’
If you would like more information on the FYP system in the University of Limerick be sure to check out the official website for FAQs: ul.ie/artsoc/content/fyp
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