Mobial Corporeality in W. S. Merwin’s Ecopoetic Corpus
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Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK
2016
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1459444066 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-case14594440662021-08-03T06:35:18Z Mobial Corporeality in W. S. Merwin’s Ecopoetic Corpus Allen, Kate Rose Dunning American Literature Animals Ecology Geological Language Literature W S Merwin ecopoetry ecocriticism poetry poetics ethics aesthetics nature anthropocene epic Hawaii Over the course of his published poetic career, W. S. Merwin develops a model of mobial corporeality that offers humanity an opportunity to redress human ignorance, neglect, and even willful cruelty towards nature. With the goal of healthy coexistence, Merwin’s career-long development of non-hierarchical conceptions of the nature-human relationship puts bodies in relation to each other through mobial thresholds, rather than binaries. This model makes clear that nature and humanity are materially, rather than metaphorically, incorporated in each other. Like a mobius strip, each side of the relationship appears independent and, yet, closer inspection reveals that the two are one. Chapter 1, “Body Matters in Ecocriticism,” lays out this model and contextualizes it in the field of ecocriticism. Chapter 2, “Merwin’s Mobial Corporeality” close reads Merwin’s poetic enactment of this model, giving particular focus to Merwin’s use of thresholds and liminal spaces as central to mobiality. Chapter 3: “Doing Thinking: Intersections of Ars Poetica and Ethics,” uses the formal changes that occur over Merwin’s career to demonstrate a mobial relationship between Merwin’s thinking and his poetic praxis, making it clear through his ars poetica poems that an ethics-aesthetics mobius is indispensable to ecopoetry. Chapter 4: “Unfolding Forms in The Folding Cliffs” revisions the traditional epic, in which the reader passively consumes the poet’s master narrative, allowing Merwin to use his own dangerous position of colonial power to explore, through a combination of history and legend, active reader engagement as the crux of ethical ecopoetry. Finally, chapter 5: “Nature-Human Relations in the Time of the Anthropocene” situates Merwin’s poetic praxis in the geologic reality of the Anthropocene through an exploration human cruelty, the urban, and human perceptions of time, reinforcing corporeal experience as the heart of humanity’s potential for healthy coexistence with nature. 2016-05-30 English text Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1459444066 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1459444066 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: some rights reserved. It is licensed for use under a Creative Commons license. Specific terms and permissions are available from this document's record in the OhioLINK ETD Center. |
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NDLTD |
| language |
English |
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NDLTD |
| topic |
American Literature Animals Ecology Geological Language Literature W S Merwin ecopoetry ecocriticism poetry poetics ethics aesthetics nature anthropocene epic Hawaii |
| spellingShingle |
American Literature Animals Ecology Geological Language Literature W S Merwin ecopoetry ecocriticism poetry poetics ethics aesthetics nature anthropocene epic Hawaii Allen, Kate Rose Dunning Mobial Corporeality in W. S. Merwin’s Ecopoetic Corpus |
| author |
Allen, Kate Rose Dunning |
| author_facet |
Allen, Kate Rose Dunning |
| author_sort |
Allen, Kate Rose Dunning |
| title |
Mobial Corporeality in W. S. Merwin’s Ecopoetic Corpus |
| title_short |
Mobial Corporeality in W. S. Merwin’s Ecopoetic Corpus |
| title_full |
Mobial Corporeality in W. S. Merwin’s Ecopoetic Corpus |
| title_fullStr |
Mobial Corporeality in W. S. Merwin’s Ecopoetic Corpus |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Mobial Corporeality in W. S. Merwin’s Ecopoetic Corpus |
| title_sort |
mobial corporeality in w. s. merwin’s ecopoetic corpus |
| publisher |
Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2016 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1459444066 |
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AT allenkaterosedunning mobialcorporealityinwsmerwinsecopoeticcorpus |
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