Date of Graduation
5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
English
Advisor/Mentor
McCombs, Davis
Committee Member
Davis, Geffrey M.
Second Committee Member
Brock, Geoffrey
Keywords
Poetry; creative writing
Abstract
The four sections of this manuscript explore grief, the natural world, mental illness, and romantic love, as well as the various ways in which these themes intersect. Many of the poems contained in this collection take place in or make reference to the state of Arkansas, displaying and investigating the Natural State’s role as both setting for and witness to the speaker’s psychological anguish, subsequent recovery, and eventual falling in love. The formal, tonal, and thematic diversity of these poems reflect various dichotomies of existence—the cold, sterile vacuum of space vs. the teeming, ever-evolving ocean; familial love vs. romantic love; the rich chaos of the natural world vs. humanity’s attempts to tame and organize it; the virtue of self-acceptance vs. the practice of self-improvement.
Citation
Weirich, C. (2025). Downloading the Ghost. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/5690
