Poetic Terms Dictionary
Technique

Stream of Consciousness

The term was coined by William James (Principles of Psychology, 1890). Applied to literature by critics describing the method of Woolf, Joyce, and Faulkner; imported into poetry as interior monologue.

Definition

The representation of continuous, unfiltered thought — associative, non-linear, and mimicking the flux of mental experience.

Example

Late Anne Carson; certain lyric essays; Dorothy Richardson's verse-influenced prose experiments.

Related Terms

Interior Monologue Modernism Confessional Poetry Lyric Essay