Date of Award
6-1-2015
Document Type
Campus Access Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
English/Creative Writing
First Advisor
Jill McDonough
Second Advisor
Lloyd Schwartz
Third Advisor
Joyce Peseroff
Abstract
A collection of poetry that explores mortality, witness, female sexuality, gender expectations, single motherhood, coercive adoption practices during the 1950s, and the grief of losing a loved one through imagination and research. While traversing the conditions of post-WWII America, these poems draw inspiration from one woman--Jayne, a strikingly independent widow who owned a farm stand in Columbia, CT. The central speaker seeks to understand the trauma that Jayne (and thousands of other unwed mothers who involuntarily gave children up for adoption) experienced, while also dissecting restraints that women face in contemporary American culture.
Recommended Citation
Mazzarella, Alyssa L., "To Fix Stray Things" (2015). Graduate Masters Theses. 321.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/masters_theses/321
Comments
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