Graduate Program
English
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Semester of Degree Completion
Fall 2024
Thesis Director
Colleen Abel
Thesis Committee Member
Marjorie Worthington
Thesis Committee Member
Jeannie Ludlow
Abstract
Women’s reproductive rights are fleeting. Read the Bones is a collection of poems inspired by pieces of literature written by, for, and about women. The novels these poems reflect include Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987), Gretchen Moran Laskas’s The Midwife’s Tale (2003), Hillary Jordan’s When She Woke (2011), Louise Erdrich’s Future Home of the Living God (November 2017), Leni Zumas’s Red Clocks (January 2018), and Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments (September 2019). The themes within touch upon psychological manipulation, abortion, birth, infanticide, motherhood, female empowerment, and resistance toward patriarchal domination, corrupt science, and politics. This collection of 30 poems in all (5 for each novel) is an excerpt of my intended full-length complete book of poetry. In addition to my creative writing sample, I will present craft and critical analysis delving further into the process of genre, theme, style, tone, and what it means to be a woman poet today.
Recommended Citation
Johnson-Swartz, Tera J., "READ THE BONES: Creative Work, Craft and Critical Analysis" (2024). Masters Theses. 5055.
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/5055
Included in
American Politics Commons, Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons, Other Rhetoric and Composition Commons, Poetry Commons, Women's Health Commons, Women's Studies Commons
