Poetics Research Entanglement
The Poetics Research Entanglement (PRE) working group is open to research scholars, theorists, artists, writers and poets, we are a space to talk about poetics research at the CUNY Graduate Center. By poetics research, we do not abide by the superiority of the traditional form of poetry. Immanent in the name of our group is the environment where an array of humanities research intersects—where theory entangles. Our PRE is one specter of the global community interested in poetic inquiry (where “poetics” means the aesthetics of literary works, not just the study of poetry). Rather, we open space for arts and literature to be interpreted through theories of poetics. Hence, we see poetics as a function of the diverse aesthetics in arts and literature.
We take up the form of bi-weekly discussions on Fridays, 12:00 to 1:00 PM , occasional guest talks, readings, works-in-progress forums, research collaboration, and experimental workshops. In this form, we encompass not just poetics as a field but invite its adjacent fields to nudge the shape that poetry forms. This includes decolonial studies, ecocriticism, gender studies, and affect theory, etc. Hence, we foster interdisciplinary thought and generate our own poetic theories. Our conversations are guided toward understanding, questioning, and emerge out of different poetic theories, generations of writers, and legacies of criticism. However, we like to walk freely on paths susceptible to lines of flight, hoping we reach somewhere new, where thresholds can be passed and captured from a different dimension. PRE specifically dedicates itself to scholarship on poetics, often examining theoretical frameworks that extend beyond poetry itself. Our discussions are driven by a commitment to understanding the broader implications of poetics within the humanities, making our approach distinctively different and more focused on critical theory than on poetry specifically.
We welcome all students, faculty, and staff from any CUNY institution to join us. Membership is open to all Graduate Center students, including non-matriculated students. Voting membership will be restricted to matriculated Graduate Center students. We are also open to IUDC (Inter University Doctoral Consortium) students.
To join, please fill out this form here or below, or email Ryan Rosenberg [email protected] or Meha Gupta [email protected] (co-mediators, 2025-26)
