The critical analysis section of this dissertation seeks to define the ode using examples in translation from Greek and Latin odes and examples in English written from the 1500s to the 2000s. Although most definitions of the ode contend that this subgenre of the lyric is an occasional poem of praise that includes a meditative or mythological element, the ode is far more complex. An ode is an occasional poem, but it works to privilege rather than strictly praise its subject, allowing for the speaker's ambivalence toward the subject. Meditation is a key element of the ode, since the poet uses the subject as a means for moving to the meditation or as a conduit through which the meditation occurs. The meditation in the poem is also a way for the poet or speaker to negotiate the relationship between the subject and herself; thus, the ode is concerned with power, since the poet must place herself or the speaker in relation to the subject. Power thus may be granted to either the speaker or the subject; the poet names and speaks of the subject, and often the poet names and speaks of himself in relation to the subject. Additionally, odes usually contain some exhortation, generally directed to the subject if not to those surrounding the reader or capable of "listening in" to the performance of the poem. This definition, it should be noted, is intended to be fluid. In order for a poem to be relevant to its age, it must either adhere to or usefully challenge the contemporary concerns. Thus, while many of the odes discussed will contain the elements of this definition, others will work against the definition. In the remainder of the introduction, I examine ancient models and twentieth- and twenty-first century examples of the ode as a means of exploring what an ode is and how it can undermine the elements of the definition and still work as a poem of this subgenre. In the second section of the dissertation are lyric poems, many of which fit in varying degrees the definition laid out in the critical analysis.

GHOST-JET is a collection of poems rooted in the lyrical tradition, often juxtaposing images of the natural world--the human body, insects, the Florida terrain--against images of surrealism--ethereal spirits, monsters, dreamscapes--in order to create metaphorical leaps of the imagination. In these poems there is the world as we know it and the world on the peripheral--zombies and babies turning into crocodiles, portraying the anxieties of the contemporary world we face as parents, children, and citizens. Written primarily in free verse, the collection also contains more traditional forms: pantoum, sestina, and haiku. There are no section breaks in this collection. Instead, the poems alternate between the personal and the political; between the particular fears of parenting and the more abstract fears in a new, post-September 11th America; between the violence perpetuated by family members and violence committed by the unknown, faceless aggressors in the world around us.

THE BLIND ARCADE is a collection of poems chronicling several of the pressing conditions of contemporary American life: poverty and class, sex, violence, hunger, longing and mourning, and the inverse of the latter, requited love and emotional ecstasy. The poems are set in crowded markets, on trains and in apartment bedrooms, city squares and campus quads, dentist chairs, bridges, riverbanks, and kitchens. This contemporary and familiar backdrop dictates the form of most of these poems to be free verse, although terza rima, ekphrastic, haiku, and prose forms are also utilized. The book presents its poems in three sections. As if a series of decorative arches in a blind arcade, they are not broken down into themes. Rather, they are each utilized and are ordered around the weight of their individual topics to demonstrate the capriciousness of life.

The Symphonic Fantasia Han-Kook oui Ja-Yeon (Nature in Korea ) is a single-movement orchestral piece, which is divided into 5 characteristic sections - each section has programmatic subtitles (Rocks, River, Sea, Wind, and Mountain) and its own idée fixe motive. The degree of texture (homophonic/polyphonic), dynamics (strong/weak), density (thick/thin), velocity (fast/slow), and orchestration (emphasizing various sections of the orchestra) is determined by depiction of the subtitles. The critical commentary of the Symphonic Fantasia Han-Kook oui Ja-Yeon (Nature in Korea ) includes a discussion of form, pitch content (melodic and harmonic), and texture of the piece. The commentary also includes a discussion of the use of programmatic subtitles (Rocks, River, Sea, Wind, and Mountain) and depiction of these concepts in the orchestration of the work. A comparison with other orchestral works is added for explanation and support of the composer's concept. Some of the other composers who are discussed in this paper include Richard Strauss (Alpine Symphony), Gustav Holst (The Planets), Frank Bridge (The Sea), Aaron Copland (Billy the Kid), and Joseph Klein (Pathways: Interior Shadows).

This mini-dissertation examines selected poems by three female poets who deal with what I have termed ‘the personal’ in relation to specifically female concerns in their poetry, namely Anne Sexton, Antjie Krog and Finuala Dowling. There has been a considerable rise in personal and autobiographical writing in the last few decades, and this trend shows no sign of decreasing. This kind of writing has provoked much heated debate, both regarding its content and its style(s). Many critics and poets, such as Robert Lowell or James Dickey, disapprove of the frankness with which female poets discuss subjects which are specific to women, and consider the poems to be too graphic or crude. Personal poems which are not graphic are also criticised as being boring, irrelevant or lacking in artistic craft. Those in favour of poetry of the personal, such as Collette Inez and Alicia Ostriker, believe that contemporary poets’ freedom to examine any topic they like is a positive development. Instead of considering these poems to be irrelevant to readers, they believe that personal poetry can be a means for both writers and readers to explore identity and to navigate various female roles. This mini-dissertation argues in defence of personal poetry, and addresses the common criticisms of this type of writing briefly mentioned above. It highlights women’s issues and questions of female identity throughout. The different ways in which female writers approach personal poetry are also examined, and the mini-dissertation compares the controversial aspects of Sexton’s writing with Krog’s candour and Dowling’s understated humour. Through close textual analysis, the mini-dissertation highlights both similarities and differences in the work of these poets, in support of the value of such poetry for both readers and writers. The mini-dissertation is accompanied by a portfolio of my own creative work. My poems also fit into the category of female poetry of the personal, so while I do not directly discuss my own work in the mini-dissertation, the portfolio and mini-dissertation are thematically linked. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / English / unrestricted

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ABSTRACT In this book-length poem, The Orchard Green And Every Color, the material eye becomes lingual, forging Vision from the consequential glintings of solid light through the many-colored world. Following a notational mode that foregrounds clarity which splits apart at its limits, its language attempts to be astonished before the intelligence of images and the capacity of the mind to move in step with them, even as saying and seeing run in counterpoint to one another at varying speeds in its early sections, concluding in a series of prose poems that move on the thin ice of repeated syntax. This thesis seeks to prove that poems provide more than an example of a world-weary or language-damaged individual consciousness but function as a type of sensory organ for echolocating one’s way through the world.

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The New Girl is a collection of poems in which the poet assumes a direct, unfeigned voice. These rhythmic poems cover the deeply personal to the universal and social. The body is presented as a record of experiences both good and bad. Feminist issues pertainingto marriage, work, and sexuality are explored. Whether the poem is about a personal relationship or some aspect of society, it is likely to be multi-dimensional and suggest a duality. Overall, the poems are rooted in the spiritual and attempt to relate, with holistic honesty, a sense of reverence for the impure parts of life.