Masters Theses
Date of Award
8-1997
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Major
English
Major Professor
Arthur Smith
Committee Members
Marilyn Kallet, Rob Stillman
Abstract
The poems in this collection were written over the last three years, which has been a time of discovery, a delving into my own sense of self and a reaching out to find my place in the world. The poems reflect that process of discovery. In some way, each of them calls upon a memory, a dream, or a voice from my life and challenges me to examine why that particular moment, place, or person is important to me. The poems in the first section take a specific vision or memory and search for its significance. The section comes from voice and identity. The poems deal with recognizing others’ voices and making connections with their voices, as well as with the speaker’s own voice. Discovery is the last issue addressed in the poems of the third section. These poems explore the notion of discovering the world and the speaker’s sense of self in that world. This semi-autobiographical collection of poems traces the process of a poet exploring the world and her place in it, tries to find the significance of those experiences, and then tells her story for others.
Recommended Citation
Derting, Elizabeth Kate, "Waking muses. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 1997.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/10505