This thesis is one of reflection and of creative discovery. In Part I, the work and poetic principles of six major poets are discussed in regard to how each poet's work has influenced my own poetry. In Part II, I bring together all that was said in Part I, and formulate what I consider to be the assumptions I carry about the crafting of poetry. The final section, Part III, contains my most recently-written poems. While the discussion of the poets is not meant to be exhaustive, all-encompassing, or strictly academic, it is hoped that the reader--and the writer--will gain a better understanding of the process and set of assumptions by which the crafting of poetry can be achieved.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThere are a few people who deserved my gratitude.First, Paul Lemen, my husband and my best friend. Thank you for your undying, unconditional acceptance and tolerance. And, more tangibly, thank you for helping me edit this.A whole host of other people ought to be thanked; here are as many as I can remember--Pat Kanouse for Molson Goldens and _words of wisdom (in that order); Brent Royster for his larger-than-life aura and for lots of giggles; Patti White for being a terrific professor, advisor, poet and role model;, Lisa Hunt for being irrepressibly Lisa-ish; my father Paul Terheide, my mother Katherine Elliott Terheide; and Valerie Weaver McDaniel--the best roommate a gal could ever hope for.Thank you to Wade Jennings, my thesis advisor, for patience and encouragement: the most important virtues a professor can possess.Thank you to my grandmother, Patricia Smith Elliott, who knows exactly when a lecture is necessary.And finally, thanks to Matt Foreman for his poignant sketches and for a friendship as old as the moon.Jeanne LemenAll Poems in Part 111 0 1993 by Jeanne Terheide Lemen. The sketch "Katie" © 1993 by Matthew P. Foreman.