Defense Date
2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts
Department
English
First Advisor
Kathleen Graber
Second Advisor
David Wojahn
Third Advisor
Nicholas Frankel
Abstract
The poems in this collection explore the complex relationships among the body, fine art, perception, social narratives of gender identity, and the role of interpretation in the process of categorization. Many of the poems operate in the mode of ekphrasis, engaging with artwork from, primarily, the fin de siècle. Other poems explore the speaker’s experience with harmful conservative and religious rhetoric, as well as the tension between such narratives and the recognition of one’s own incompatibility with such beliefs. As such, the poems interrogate the role of language on the formation and reformation of complex systems of belief and ideology that shape not only behavior but also one’s perceptions and self-conceptualizations.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
4-30-2024