Date of Completion
2020
Document Type
Honors College Thesis
Department
English
Thesis Type
Honors College, College of Arts and Science Honors
First Advisor
Major Jackson
Second Advisor
Sarah Turner
Third Advisor
Adrian Ivakhiv
Keywords
ecopoetry, ecopoetics, hyperlocal, green studies, place, space
Abstract
In times of instability, we look to the land and our community for comfort. Field Guides for Leaving is a collection of seventeen (17) poems written through a hyperlocal lens that focuses on minute details about the poet’s natural and cultural landscape in Burlington, Vermont. The poems use poignant and succinct observations of the hyperlocal to both represent a longing for stability and create an antidote to instability. To cultivate a sense of place, the poems draw parallels between culture and nature to relate emotional landscapes with physical ones. This thesis contributes to the fields of ecopoetry and green studies in its study of the hyperlocal, intentional place-making, and interest in the relationships that we form with place and nature. The poems grapple with personal, communal, and climatic instability such as graduating from college, the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Foster, Rachel A., "Field Guides for Leaving: A poetic exploration of the hyperlocal in Burlington, Vermont" (2020). UVM Patrick Leahy Honors College Senior Theses. 344.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/hcoltheses/344