Publication Date

Spring 2011

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

English and Comparative Literature

Advisor

Alan Soldofsky

Keywords

American poetry, contemporary poetry, love poems, modern life, relationships, war poems

Subject Areas

American Literature; Literature

Abstract

This collection of love poems is divided into three parts. Section 1 is a collage, taking the reader through the moments of childhood infatuation, adult obsession, and weathered devotion. Thematically, the poems in this section, mostly confessional and persona in the form of dramatic monologues, follow a temporal and social structure. Grounded in memory, they capture a nostalgia for moments that are gone and the desire to revisit them. These poems, taking place both in the past and present, are about other people: "the others."

Section 2 is a conversation about romantic love. Confessional and narrative in nature, these poems are more intimate and revealing, consisting of only two voices. This section captures two lives in a private dialogue. Grounded in desperation caused by their circumstances, the speakers of the poems are tending to "the self" versus "the other." Their voices yearn for the past while they look forward to the future in order to escape the immediate present.

Section 3 consists of anti-love poems. The attempt to distance from love creates tension. From the absence of love, these poems expose the poet by tending to "the other" that is inside the poet. They highlight the poet's life and vision. Placed in the past and present but grounded in the desire to escape from memory, this section acts as a disruption, a step back, and a step against sections one and two, against all notions love.

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