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From Pastorals To Paterson: Ecology In The Poetry And Poetics Of William Carlos Williams, Daniel Edmund Burke Jul 2014

From Pastorals To Paterson: Ecology In The Poetry And Poetics Of William Carlos Williams, Daniel Edmund Burke

Dissertations (1934 -)

Modernist poet William Carlos Williams died in 1962 - a landmark year in the history of the modern environmentalist movement. He did not live to see contemporary culture come to the deeper appreciation of humanity's place in the world which we now know as ecology. This dissertation will argue, however, that supporting his entire oeuvre of poetry are philosophical and poetic underpinnings which resonate strongly with - and usefully anticipate - our modern understanding of the interpenetrative relationship between natural and culture, human and nonhuman. I begin by tracing the roots of Williams's "ecopoetics" back to the father of Williams's …

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The Vastness Of Small Spaces: Self-Portraits Of The Artist As A Child Enclosed, Matthew John Burgess Jun 2014

The Vastness Of Small Spaces: Self-Portraits Of The Artist As A Child Enclosed, Matthew John Burgess

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A tent of bed sheets, a furniture fort, a corner of the closet surrounded by chosen objects--the child finds or fashions these spaces and within them daydreaming begins. What do small spaces signify for the child, and why do scenes of enclosure emerge in autobiographical self-portraits of the artist? Sigmund Freud's theory that the literary vocation can be traced to childhood experiences is at the heart of this project, especially his observation that "the child at play behaves like a writer, in that he creates a world of his own, or rather, re-arranges the things of this world in a …

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Edna St. Vincent Millay: Artisan Of Violent Feminine Agency, Carolina Galdiz Apr 2014

Edna St. Vincent Millay: Artisan Of Violent Feminine Agency, Carolina Galdiz

Senior Theses and Projects

For decades, scholars have understood Edna St Vincent Millay in two fairly distinctive patterns as either a classical romanticist or ephemeral rebel. This dual reputation has been crafted from the obvious presence of natural imagery, sexual dynamism, feminine voice, and romantic yearning in her work. What critics have failed to see in her poetry are the potent sinister undertones that claim violence as a means to power. I will argue that Millay narrates the gendered struggle that takes place in this violence, in order to ultimately assert feminine agency in the process of forming a cultural identity. Thus, rather than …

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Bridging: Poetry Of Place In Putnam County, Megan Carter 14 Jan 2014