Learning to Speak: A collection of poems

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2001-08

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Abstract

A collection of poetry should be a cohesive body of work in which each poem is a piece of a greater whole, the collection. Each of the poems in Learning to Speak: A Collection of Poems can stand alone on its own merits yet also represents a portion of a larger story the dissertation has to tell: the loss of the speaker's voice (both literal and figurative) and a progression through a series of life circumstances and situations that leads to the regaining of that voice. The intention is to show that whUe the speaker in the poems encounters a variety of difficult life circumstances, each circumstance is a step toward the development of a more powerful, expressive instnmient of communication. A short introduction to the poetry relates my own understanding of voice in poetry and my application of that imderstanding to the collection of poems. The poetry collection is organized into five parts. Part One, "Losing His Voice," contains poems about childhood experiences related to the speaker's early loss of voice through physical restriction, followed by a regaining of the physical voice. The speaker's voice then becomes increasingly subdued due to a variety of inhibiting circumstances. The second part strengthens the speaker's loss of voice by showing how the emergence of sexual feelings, with all of its accompanying emotional turmoil, can inhibit one's powers of expression. The third part, "Learning to Speak," contains sk poems that show the speaker obtaining a greater imderstanding of communication in relationships and a seventh poem intended as a bridge, a kind of graduation ceremony, into the final two parts of the collection. Part Four, "Speaking for the Dead," describes the speaker's continued use of voice, having grown to the extent that he can express himself in terms of experiences he has had with death while articulating some hardships those who have passed on suffered while they were alive. The final part is intended to give the reader a sense of release through laughter and expressing appreciation for the life experiences that shaped the speaker's voice. Together, these poems represent a somewhat fictionalized autobiography that reveals the complex process of learning when and how to speak for oneself and for others.

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Keywords

American poetry, Creative writing, College verse, American

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