Browsing by Subject "poetry"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Imagining the Mediterranean: Disruption and Connectivity in Medieval Iberian Tales of the Sea
    (2013-06) Parmley, Nicholas
    Despite the importance of the Mediterranean Sea, much literary scholarship of the twentieth century has fixed its gaze on the ports and hinterlands that mark only the beginning and end of maritime travel. My research responds to this lacuna by investigating medieval tales of the sea and seafaring produced by authors of the diverse linguistic and confessional communities that inhabited the Iberian Peninsula in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries. These historical groups not only thrived on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, but many of them braved its depths, in turn creating complex networks of cultural exchange. And as the authors and subjects of these texts adhered to different faiths and wrote in several languages, the tales they tell reveal not only the rich cultural heritage of the Mediterranean, but a complex space of cross-cultural contact and exchange. Real or imagined, the tales these authors tell are of importance to our understanding of a diverse people and a rich cultural heritage of the Mediterranean. Written in Hebrew, Arabic, and Romance, by and for kings, clerics and exiles, the authors whose work I explore reveal a space of constantly shifting geographical boundaries, political frontiers, and religious identities. But before the protagonists of their tales arrive at port, wreck into land, or are swallowed by the sea, each entices us to consider their point of view, a perspective from amidst the tumultuous waves. I hope to demonstrate through a reading and examination of these texts, both individually and together, how the Mediterranean offers us a reorientation of critical perspective which expands the traditional national literature approach of Spanish Studies to include aspects of Jewish and Arabic history and literature, as well as the contingency of discrete cultural production that cannot be erased by an overgeneralized category of "the Mediterranean." A such, I hope to show how Iberia, as a space of multiplicity, may be viewed as emblematic of Mediterranean Studies as currently articulated. Thus we may explore how Iberian cultural production participates in--and is a product of--a more broadly conceived and shared Mediterranean space of cross-cultural contact and intellectual exchange.
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    Sidewalk Poetry in the Streets of Northfield: Library Tour
    (2015) Paddock, Paul; Spensley, Phillip; Kruggel, Jasper
    An interactive story map tour of sidewalk poetry throughout one of Minnesota's historic river towns. This story map library tour application shows where various lines of poetry are stamped within the area sidewalks and neighborhoods of Northfield, MN. The tour is also accompanied with pictures and audio clips for map users to view/play back each poem if they desire. To engage, the map user chooses a section from tabs at the top and selects a poem either by numbered tag on the map, or from a thumbnail strip on the bottom. The map then zooms to that location and reveals that poem's panel. Each poem marker was GPS'ed, photographed, and indicated by a stop number which, once clicked, shows the poem's picture, text, and sometimes an audio clip read aloud by a Northfield resident. Essentially the app is used in a guided touring fashion, noting each stop in order on the map. The app itself was produced as part of a project for the Northfield Arts and Culture Commission, but intended for its residents and the public for artistic appreciation and hope to share aspects of the town's culture/values to people regardless of their location. People can explore these poems and let their words resonate with them not only at each stop, but in the comfort of their whereabouts. An average of 9-10 poems are selected each year to be stamped in different neighborhoods around town. Many are placed in the historic downtown area. Other copies are seen in residential neighborhoods. The Sidewalk Poetry Project in Northfield began in 2011 and expresses core missions to celebrate the role of the arts in supporting a high quality of life, enhancing economic vitality, fostering a sense of community, and engaging citizens of all ages, abilities, and interests in making and appreciating the arts.
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    Translation on the Move: Place, Language, and the Jewish Body in Rose Ausländer’s Poetry
    (2018-07) Solemsli-Chrysler, Jennifer
    Scholarly work on Rose Ausländer tends to focus too much on her biography, a gendered phenomenon closely linked to trivialization of the female poet. This dissertation presents a flexible framework of three main approaches which allow for an eclectic set of interpretations that are more suitable to Ausländer’s diverse body of work than any single approach. The three themes are (1) critical representations of the home city and empire, (2) movement in and among languages, and (3) the role of the body. The coexistence of traumatic and nostalgic memory manifests in all three categories, calling Ausländer’s work into focus not only as a particular, complex oeuvre, but also as a test case for reading German-Jewish literature.