Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Semester of Degree Completion
1989
Thesis Director
Bruce Guernsey
Abstract
Learning to Forage is a collection of poems resulting from my own progression from a rural environment, Walnut, Bureau County, Illinois, to the world outside. I illustrate this progression using a persona called Antaeus, named after the Greek demi-god who received his strength from the earth. Therefore, for the most part, Antaeus is me; as the speaker or consciousness in each poem he is aware of everything that happens in the collection.
In the first poems, Antaeus is comfortable in his farm community, but gradually he becomes aware of the death, decay and stagnation. He becomes dissatisfied with his world, and his desire to move grows. This is the major thematic opposition in the collection, movement and stasis. I have to deal with this tension, to search for the place where Antaeus will feel the least discomfort. Each time I confront the tension, I discover something about my surroundings and make an adjustment on my spectrum of stasis vs. movement, or as two of the poem sections are called, "Inside" and "Outside." I control both cause and effect: I instigate the confrontation, the arena of the poem, and the persona I create is made more aware because of it.
Section one, "Inside," ends with Antaeus ready to leave the rural community, but before he departs, he visits Corss Cemetery. This occasion allows for a trip to the past when Bureau County was being settled by pioneers, a time when borders were being created and the farm culture was still moving.
Section three, "Outside," shows Antaeus after he leaves the rural circle behind, but he still feels the tension as strongly as ever. In the last poem we leave him struggling still, perpetually moving.
To create the voice of Antaeus and most of the language in the collection, I use a style which I call the rural lyric. It is a balancing point between rural idiom and formal lyricism, allowing me to convey the spiritual bond that Antaeus feels with the earth without losing the percussive music of common rural speech. Two poets helped me find this meeting ground: Dave Etter and Wendell Berry. Etter relies heavily on raw rural language while Berry uses very lyrical language and surreal images.
Other influences I mention are Edgar Lee Masters, Robert Browning, Ai, Richard Hugo, Rodney Jones, William Stafford, Ted Kooser, and William Matthews.
Recommended Citation
Von Holten, Daniel, "Learning to Forage" (1989). Masters Theses. 2416.
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/2416
