SYNONYMS FOR MAYBE

by HAMMOND, ALLISON E

This dissertation, Synonyms for Maybe, a collection of original poems by Allison E. Hammond, consists of three sections bound together by their exploration of language’s ability or inability to render experience, shape memory, and structure reality. The poems engage a variety of forms, including sonnets, prose poems, ballads, and free verse. The dissertation also includes a critical paper, “Fishing the Waters of Tradition: Robert Hass’s Poetic Inheritance.” This paper follows the development of Robert Hass’s relationship to the Romantic literary tradition over his four volumes of original poetry.