EPQ Presentation
Why EPQ?
Way to develop from the set curriculum in English Literature; an extended version of the lit coursework that focuses on multiple poets in a genre instead of one poet.
Despite wanting to continue with psychology at University, there are many transferrable skills that I have learnt.
Transferrable Skills: Citing, how to organise research (academic texts), how to manage time, multitasking, how to assess appropriate sources, how to present a project.
Personal interest: I have always been interested in writing poetry but I have never had the opportunity to create a collection in this way. This developed my own personal goal of being a published poet in the future.
Why this topic?
Confessional poetry is a genre that has developed from older genres such as romanticism with poets like Wordsworth, and lives on today in an innovated version of the original genre. Interesting to continue this genre in my own work.
Even though I will be going into a STEM future, I believe it's important to still cultivate an interest in the arts. These are two subjects that are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
At the time of the rise of confessional poetry in the 50's and onwards, it received a lot of criticism and was a genre that had many critics direct pejorative views towards it, this was one of the reasons I thought it would be interesting to develop on this genre. By using these confessional poets, it was a way to pay homage to the great craftsmanship of their work and celebrating it.
It felt important to use female confessional poets because many themes that they discussed, I believed I could translate into my own work. That even though poets like Plath and Sexton were writing during and after the time of second wave feminism, the loss of bodily autonomy was one of the examples of the themes I brought into my own work.
Would I do EPQ again?
It was a process that allowed me to explore my interests in a focused way that allowed for my own personal development.
Skills I have learnt here will be extremely valuable for my future.
What would you do differently if you were to do an EPQ again?
Instead of creating an artefact, doing a debate styled report instead involving this genre.
How far can Sylvia Plath be considered as a confessional poet in regards to her posthumous collection 'Ariel'?
Is confessional poetry simply an evolved genre from the romantic era of poetry?
Themes of my report
The process of how I decided to use the confessional poets that I did e.g. why female confessional poets, and why Plath, Olds, and Sexton
How did research into the background of confessional poetry help my artefact creation
What was the process of applying the literary techniques of the chosen poets.
Development of my artefact at each stage of critical review
Conclusion
Created the artefact, and it would be classed as conventional to the genre.
Challenges
Using certain software's, managing my A-levels with an EPQ
What would I do if I had another six months?
Create a collection that includes more poems
Harvard referencing
Collecting a variation of sources
Embed the influence of both male and female confessional poets
Look at different genres e.g. romantic poetry