Tracks we leave
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Langdon Dean Julius (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Stuart Dischell
Abstract: While many of the poems in my thesis address the death of my stepfather, several of them also touch on region and the geography of the Mississippi Delta, my home. Additionally, there is a longer historical narrative about the steamboat Sultana, considered one of the worst maritime disasters in American history. Primarily, my thesis attempts to interpret the varying ways in which human beings deal with guilt and loss: faith in God, for example, in "Furlongs Home," or the ritual of erecting totems for the dead in "Augur." But this manuscript is not only an attempt at creating a vestige to celebrate and remember the dead, it also examines of the fallibility of creating such a structure. I hope that the poems here find a balance between lyricism and narrative. My work is largely informed by the poetry of Langston Hughes and Yusef Komunyakaa. Their ability to create clear dramatic situations and narrative while simultaneously emphasizing the poem's musical cadence is something I am interested in mirroring. I have also learned a great deal from Atsuro Riley's lyrical narrative Romey's Order and the recent work of Bruce Snider in Paradise, Indiana. Finally, my poems owe a great deal to blues musicians such as Charlie Patton and Son House, whose music is deeply rooted in my experience growing up in the Delta.
Tracks we leave
PDF (Portable Document Format)
164 KB
Created on 5/1/2014
Views: 242
Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2014
- Keywords
- Poetry
- Subjects
- American poetry $y 21st century