Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Fall 2019 Poetically Composed, Educationally Imposed: Exploring Imagination and Poetics in Curriculum—A Memoir Whitney J. Presnal Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Part of the Art Education Commons, Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons, Poetry Commons, and the Secondary Education Commons Recommended Citation Presnal, W. J. (2019). Poetically Composed, Educationally Imposed: Exploring Imagination and Poetics in Curriculum—A Memoir (Doctoral dissertation). Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA. This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. POETICALLY COMPOSED, EDUCATIONALLY IMPOSED: EXPLORING IMAGINATION AND POETICS IN CURRICULUM—A MEMOIR by WHITNEY J. PRESNAL (Under the Direction of John Weaver) ABSTRACT Through the use of memoir, my work centers on how poetry is situated within public education curriculum. I explore the curricular context of poetry through the lenses of my lived experiences in early childhood, as a K-12 student, and as an early career classroom teacher. My dissertation draws upon a wide array of literature, honing in on the poetic perspectives of philosophers (Aristotle, 1996; Heidegger, 1947 & 1971/2013; Plato, 1955/2007), poets (Hall, 2003; Eliot, 1920 & 2009), and curriculum theorists (Leggo, 1997 & 2018; Pinar, 1994; Sameshima, 2007).