Milla Miller

Senior Project Advisor

Thomas Hummel Christie Scollon

Document Type

Project

Publication Date

Fall 2023

Keywords

development, psychology, psychosocial, childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, parental relationship, narrative identity, poetry, poetics, lifelong development, depression, autobiography, education

Abstract

Situated at the intersection of creative writing and psychology, this project analyzes the author’s adolescent poetry alongside her current work to explore psychosocial and narrative identity development. Specifically, the work contrasts poems written about developmental stages in process with those written in reflection of previous stages in order to reveal how the understanding of self evolves. In addition to the complexities revealed by these temporal differences, structural elements unique to the poems provide further levels of understanding: choice of form and figurative dexterity show cognitive and narrative advancement; themes reveal psychosocial conflicts; and repetition across a poetic lifespan identifies the events that have most significantly impacted the individual’s internalized identity. Over the course of Development, Line by Line, it becomes clear that the continuously developing autobiographical narrative, and the questions it raises about how and why the author chooses to tell it, is capable of yielding insights that exceed the limits of traditional autobiography.

Department

Honors

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

Maturation (Psychology); Poetry; Identity (Psychology) in literature; Narrative poetry; Poetics; Adulthood; Autobiography

Type

Text

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

Download

Share

COinS