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Of

Date

2010

Authors

Bohn, Jerrod E., author
Beachy-Quick, Dan, advisor
Steensen, Sasha, committee member
Cooperman, Matthew, committee member
Prince, Eric, committee member

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Abstract

My thesis manuscript entitled Of is a book-length collection of poems broken into five sections. Over the course of the book, the poems move from concerns over the nature of the erotic to an examination of how consummation of the flesh can give rise to a creation. In this case, what is created or birthed is the hymn or song that names the world. Along with this naming comes an anxiety over language’s relationship to the natural world: by affixing names and “meaning” to natural objects are we allowing words and phrases to replace the actual objects themselves? Moreover, does language risk misnaming an object which, in a sense, causes damage to that object’s integrity that can be difficult to repair or recover? Drawing on Classical Greek and Roman poetry, ritual, and mythology as well as Judeo-Christian cosmology and iconography as source material, Of attempts to break down and reunite dichotomous ideas that ancient cultures viewed as harmonious rather than opposed. These dichotomies include: the Apollonian / the Dionysian, male / female, erotic / spiritual, song (poetry) / meaning (naming), and language / natural objects. The book remembers that the preposition “of’ is relational, that all things are always “of” or “emanated from” something else.

Description

Covers not scanned.
Print version deaccessioned 2022.

Rights Access

Access is limited to the Colorado State University community only.

Subject

Poetry

Citation

Associated Publications