| Summary: | The majority of New Zealand's poetry critics take a purist and prescriptive approach to
their subject, dividing poems and poets into one of three modes: realism, modernism and
postmodernism. Furthermore, critics usually hold up one of these modes as the 'best' way to
write, dismissing the others. My thesis argues for an adjustment of that paradigm to allow for
poetry that crosses boundaries and combines aspects of more than one mode. C.K. Stead's
writing illustrates both of these tendencies: purist theories in his critical work, post-purist
practice in his poetry.
Stead's career covers a broad cross-section of New Zealand's recent literary history,
from 1951 to 1997. Chapter one introduces this period by surveying its critical
methodologies, arguing for a shift away from the dominant purist paradigm. This opening
chapter also proposes an adjustment in one of the turning points in New Zealand's literary
history, the arrival of modernism. Most surveys place that arrival at approximately 1970,
ignoring the publication of Stead's "Pictures in a Gallery Undersea" in 1959, likely the first
modernist long poem written by a New Zealander.
Chapters two and three explore Stead's modernism in theory and in practice, and
provide the first detailed critical discussion of "Pictures in a Gallery." Chapter four casts
back to Stead's early use and rejection of realism, while chapter five shows realism continuing
in a seam that runs throughout his work. Having established a mixture of realism and
modernism, Stead then demonstrates his skill with postmodernist techniques, creating a threeway
mixture of modes. Chapter six shows how that mixture develops in his poetry, while
chapter seven traces a similar pattern in his fiction. Finally, chapter eight explores how the
later poems cross these categorical boundaries, developing a poetic that relaxes hierarchical
divisions. Stead's practice contravenes the prescriptions of many New Zealand poetry critics—and
it particularly counters his own purist critical arguments in favour of modernism. This thesis
proposes a criticism that can allow for and describe Stead's post-purist practice. My
conclusion suggests that this post-purist approach applies not only to the work of C.K. Stead,
but also to some of the recent work by other New Zealand poets, such as Allen Curnow, Bill
Manhire and Ian Wedde. === Arts, Faculty of === English, Department of === Graduate
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