Intimate Rock

• Author / Creator

  Sproule, Robert

• “Intimate Rock” is a collection of original, autobiographical poetry gleaned from my experiences climbing and exploring in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Although many of the poems recall moments spent on specific mountains, the structure of the piece is loosely that of a single climb.
  
  This thesis is an examination of the relationship a climber forms with the alpine landscape. It is poetry of engagement, and articulates the raw reality of climbing by focusing on the immediacy of its most engaging moments. As opposed to poetry of the picturesque, “Intimate Rock” zooms in on the exhausting repetition of climbing, a repetition punctuated by brief moments of terror and ecstasy.
  
  My goal is that readers who have never stood on a high summit ridge will feel moments of instability, breathlessness, and wonder as they become engaged in poetry crafted to express the climbers’ own engagement.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Poetry

• Graduation date

  Fall 2011

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3NM1B

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.