Advisory Committee Chair
Adam Vines
Advisory Committee Members
James Braziel
William Hutchings
Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2018
Degree Name by School
Master of Arts (MA) College of Arts and Sciences
Abstract
The poems in this thesis attempt to reach the universal in the specific, to find the common in the uncommon, the ubiquitous in idiosyncrasies. These poems often confront the spiritual within the physical, hopefully revealing a mysticism specific to each subject. These poems, though not entirely evident in their subject matter, are influenced by Southern culture and life. Here, the Southern background of the writer becomes an undertone to the poems themselves, and whether the poem is set in the imagination of a painting or a back yard in Alabama, the language that brings these poems to life spawns from South. Throughout the thesis, I mainly focus on ekphrasis, writing that is informed or inspired by art. I try to exploit the complex tensions that I find between visual art and language, revealing the greater relationships between both mediums, between the means of communication that both mediums take, and the universality of the art and craft infused in both. Overall, this collection of poems explores the things, the connections, the subtleties, that make us human, and throughout the collection, I hope to reach a more profound understanding.
Recommended Citation
Odom, Garrett Lee, "Hands like Chains" (2018). All ETDs from UAB. 2614.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/2614