Date of Award

1-10-2012

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

English

First Advisor

Heidi Czerwiec

Abstract

This dissertation is a poetry manuscript which explores the author's understanding of the North Dakota landscape. Upon arriving in North Dakota from the landscape of the Pacific Northwest, the author experienced profound disorientation, which he was unable to understand through a poetic sensibility that had been formed in the mountains and forests of his previous home. Absent his familiar vocabulary of imagery and metaphor, he had to adapt his language. In doing so, he discovered a landscape of terrible beauty, absence, and resilient people, who weather winters and disasters alike, with hard stoicism. The poems are characterized by an expansive mythological lexicon, drawing on Biblical language, the imagery of the Red River Valley, as well as the French surrealist Paul Eluard in a series of translated poems. Through this exploration, the dissertation unravels the familiar language of the author and replaces it with the imagery and metaphors of North Dakota. The dissertation is called a visitor's guide in order to draw on both connotations of the phrase; it was written by a visitor, and is intended for those who may physically or metaphorically travel to a place few outside of it ever consider, for as Thomas McGrath notes, “North Dakota is everywhere.”

Download

Share

COinS