Date of Award

5-2021

Degree Type

Creative Project

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

English

Committee Chair(s)

Ben Gunsberg (Committee Chair)

Committee

Ben Gunsberg

Committee

Michael Sowder

Committee

Paul Crumbley

Abstract

Portrait of Rich County presents the small town of Randolph, Utah in poems describing its wildlife, recreational activities, and the perspectives of citizens in the contemporary rocky mountain west. Special attention to the imagination of the poems’ speaker toward the more dreamlike qualities of Rich County establishes itself throughout, in order to convey a feeling of hope within harsh terrain. This collection examines the theme of salvaging items not often considered, such as rusted junk, ancient houses, or roadside garbage, both in the actions of the speaker and through the act of naming these items upon the page. An over-arching theme, the ever present threat of death in isolation, contrasts the danger, remoteness and shocking weather of Rich County with its moments of beauty, sublimity and respite. In effect, a wider portrait is painted of the whole.

Included in

Poetry Commons

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