Title

Spur

Date of Award

December 2018

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

English

First Advisor

Brenda Cárdenas

Abstract

This dissertation, titled Spur, is structured in three major sections: a set of poems; a lyric essay in the form of an open letter; and a second set of poems. The work explores questions of shame, agency, and inheritance in the realm of the family. Spur’s post-confessional poems and lyric essay use the approaches of surrealism and the uncanny; a multigenerational, feminist lens; an unstable, first-person speaker; and the technique of looking inward to look outward in order to achieve self-examination, vulnerability, ambiguity, and, ultimately, a more nuanced understanding of abuse, addiction, trauma, and what comes after.

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