Works Consulted

“Animal Farm.” Wikiquote, 2019, https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Animal_Farm. 

I reference George Orwell’s Animal Farm in my poem titled “I. Spectrums and Strings” in order to complicate the idea of equality I discuss. Animal Farm was not a required course text, but I recalled the quote, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others,” when writing about the belief that all sin is equal. I did not pull the quote from a physical copy of the book but, rather, from memory; thus, I found a reference of the quote online for the sake of citations.

Armstrong, Patricia. “Bloom’s Taxonomy.” Vanderbilt University, n.d., https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/. 

Armstrong’s article provides a succinct description of the evolution of Bloom’s Taxonomy, beginning with the original Taxonomy (1956) and then focusing on the revised Taxonomy (2001). Breaking down the levels of the revised Taxonomy, Armstrong lists actions that achieve each level and the types of knowledge behind these cognitive processes. In my critical introduction, I refer to this article when mentioning the processes in Bloom’s Taxonomy and also consult the source as a foundational text for understanding the benefits of creative projects.

“Bicameralism (psychology).” Wikipedia, last edited 7 April 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_(psychology).

I incorporate this source into “Not-a-Lecture” both as a way to include a simple definition of the psychological term, “bicameralism,” and to contradict frequent advice not to use Wikipedia. My entire lecture challenges common rules on writing essays, as a way of achieving humor and also demonstrating how creative writing allows rules to be broken. Moreover, I discuss the concept of the bicameral mind as a metaphor for the relationship between poetry and the brain, at least in my own writing process.

Bosch, Hieronymus. The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych. 1490-1500, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

In 2019, I visited The Prado Museum located in Madrid, Spain, where I viewed Bosch’s painting, The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych. While observing the painting, I wrote down brief descriptions of the imagery, which I later summarized in the first three lines of my poem, “After Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych.” Like many of my ekphrastic poems, I was inspired by the artwork but followed my own interpretations and organic thought patterns when writing the poem. Moreover, I draw on imagery from the painting to support ideas of what it means to be “good” or “evil,” topics that were discussed and read about in class.

Breton, Andre. Manifestoes of Surrealism. Translated by Richard Seaver and Helen R. Lane, University of Michigan Press, 1969.

Breton’s First Manifesto of Surrealism is only briefly mentioned in my analytical essay, “Conversations and Connections: The Ekphrastic Process and Integrating Surrealist Influences.” His writings aid in explaining traditional definitions and descriptions of the Surrealist movement, so I reference the source as a foundational text for understanding Surrealism. However, since I explore Surrealist influences in contemporary poetics, I cannot use the source much past the origins of Surrealism, since Breton largely opposed any variations or expansions on the Surrealist movement.

Carrington, Leonora. Self-Portrait. 1937-38, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Surrealism: 50 Works of Art You Should Know, by Brad Finger, p. 85.

While some of the other ekphrastic poems in my project, “Steel, Strings, and Other Supplies for Reconstruction,” are loosely inspired by their visual art counterparts, the poem responding to the painting Self-Portrait describes each aspect of the piece, including the room, the woman, the hyena, the rocking horse on the wall, and the horse outside the room. Therefore, the symbolic imagery in the painting is the main artistic element on which I focus. In my poem, I interpret the room as being a metaphorical cage restricting the woman’s identity, with the rocking horse mirroring her immobility and the horse outside representing freedom. The hyena, then, is a sort of wild, alternative identity to the woman, and possibly an escape from her cage. Moreover, my poem “Self-Portrait” is an example of how ekphrasis can be both an exact description of a piece of art and an interpretation of its meaning.

Cha, Theresa Hak Kyung. Dictee. University of California Press, 2009.

My Women’s Literature genre project, “Hybrid Forms: Gender and Genre,” is partially based on Cha’s Dictee, a cross-genre work that focuses on women in history, mythology, and Cha’s own life. Cha’s work consists of multiple languages, images, historical documents, and more. I don’t reference Dictee directly in all of the poems in my project; however, her focus on language inspired themes within my work. The poem, “Anatomy of the Brain,” is the poem that most closely interacts with Dictee, as I chose to imitate a hybrid piece within the book.

Christian, Barbara. “The Race for Theory.” Feminist Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, 1988, pp. 67-79. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3177999.

In this article, Christian discusses the shift in the humanities from critics focusing on literature to producing theory for the sake of career expansion and mastery of the subject. Moreover, she explains that, for traditionally marginalized writers to claim a space in academia, they must speak like the Western, white academic. As a solution to this issue, Christian proposes that creative writing serves as a way for women of color, especially, to speak in a way that aligns with their purpose and identity. I agree with and expand on Christian’s argument by suggesting that college students would benefit from being provided alternate writing assignments that involve creativity.

Conference on College Composition and Communication. “Students’ Right to their Own Language.” CCC, vol. 25, 1974, pp. 1-65. Conference on College Composition and Communication, https://prod-ncte-cdn.azureedge.net/nctefiles/groups/cccc/newsrtol.pdf.

This resolution, developed by the Conference on College Composition and Communication, explores the question of whether educators have the right to enforce a standard dialect on students. As my essay argues for the importance of respecting students’ native dialects when teaching academic writing, the CCCC provides a useful foundation on which I continue the discussion. I first read this source for a Writing Center staff meeting, and while we did not come to a definite conclusion on whether we tutors should enforce Standard American English on tutees, I found myself returning to this conversation and attempting to determine how educators and tutors might avoid oppressive practices when teaching writing in English courses. Through my project, I come to the conclusion that students would benefit from more conversations on dialect and academic writing in humanities courses, along with adding more creative writing assignments to the curriculum.

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. 

Freire’s novel Pedagogy of the Oppressed provided a foundation for my critical introduction, as Freire reveals oppressive practices that have occurred (and still occur, sometimes) in education. He emphasizes the significance of critical thinking and dialogical pedagogy, both of which are crucial topics relating to my argument on the benefits of student-centered learning, dialogue, and innovative projects. More specifically, I discuss Freire’s explanation of the banking concept of education, which my project opposes, and his argument on conscientization being a solution. Freire’s definition of conscientization and putting it into practice are somewhat ambiguous; however, I attempt to offer possible methods for exercising critical consciousness in the classroom.

Friend, Chris. “Introduction to Hybrid Teaching: People, Pedagogy, Politics.” Hybrid Pedagogy, 2021, https://hybridpedagogy.org/hybrid-teaching/.

Although I only reference this source once, I chose to include it in my critical introduction to emphasize the importance of student discovery and agency. Though Friend is discussing hybrid pedagogy, specifically, much of his teaching philosophy applies to the goals behind student-centered learning. He reiterates how individualized education cannot be pre-programmed and must, instead, be adapted based on the students and their academic interests. Additionally, I incorporated this source so that readers can read more about innovative pedagogies if they are interested in the topics discussed in my project. 

“Genesis 1.” The Tanakh, New International Version. DHC 141 Coursepack, Spring 2019, p. 44.

We read “Genesis 1” from The Tanakh in one of my Douglas Honors College courses, for which I completed the project, “The Many Faces of Evil: A Series of Poems.” I reference a quote about the creation of mankind in my poem, “V. Pairs,” to further explore the idea of human nature. Although that is the only direct quote from “Genesis 1,” I also refer to other ideas from the book, like God’s decision to give humans freewill. This allows me to build the idea that freewill is what makes humans different from animals and provides them with a dualistic nature, as they have the choice to choose good or evil. Moreover, using Scripture, paired with contemporary sources about good and evil, offers evidence for my definition of evil.

Givhan, Jennifer. Girl with Death Mask. Indiana University Press, 2018.

I directly refer to Givhan’s collection of poems once in my project, “Steel, Strings, and Other Supplies for Reconstruction,” when I include her lines, “Frida   I’m afraid in here / it’s hard to breathe sometimes.” Here, the speaker of Givhan’s titular poem appears to be the girl in Kahlo’s painting, Girl with Death Mask, which means that her difficulty breathing is from wearing the mask. Givhan’s poem is what inspired me to write my poem, “After Girl with Death Mask,” which functions as an ekphrastic response to both Givhan’s poetry collection and Kahlo’s painting.

“John 8:7.” BibleGateway, n.d., https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A7&version=NIV.

I include the Bible verse, John 8:7, in the first poem of my project on evil, “I. Spectrums and Strings.” The speaker in this poem contemplates whose right it is to judge people’s actions, since the Bible declares that God is the sole judge, yet there are my forms of judgement and punishment imposed by humans. The argument in this poem is that evil, like most concepts, is a spectrum on which all people fall. Thus, John 8:7 is my textual support for the idea that all people have committed sin some degree, so it is ironic that humans decide who is innocent and guilty.

Kahlo, Frida. Girl with Death Mask. 1938, Nagoya City Art Museum. FridaKahlo.org, https://www.fridakahlo.org/girl-with-death-mask.jsp.

Girl with Death Mask is a painting that consists of a little girl in a pink dress, with a white, skeletal-looking mask over her face. For my poem, “After Girl with Death Mask,” I write in the voice of the little girl, and allude to some of the aforementioned images, but I mainly create my own narrative inspired by the image of the girl and her mask, as this largely relates to the themes of duality, alter-egos, and hiding, which occur in my project titled “Steel, Strings, and Other Supplies for Reconstruction.”

Kahlo, Frida. The Two Fridas. 1939, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City. Surrealism: 50 Works of Art You Should Know, by Brad Finger, p. 91.

My poem, “After The Two Fridas” is placed at the beginning of “Steel, Strings, and Other Supplies for Reconstruction,” as it introduces the theme of a dualistic identity that occurs in many of the other poems. Rather than describing Kahlo’s painting or speaking to the artist, as is sometimes done in ekphrasis, my poem is inspired by the side-by-side women in the painting. I describe a girl and a woman-like creature, who are battling each other throughout the poem. I also include a “string” holding the two together, along with “scissors” to cut the string, images that are inspired by those within the painting. This poem is an example of an ekphrastic piece that is more loosely inspired by a painting because I assert my own narrative into the piece. 

Klosterman, Chuck. I Wear the Black Hat. Scribner, 2014. 

I Wear the Black Hat is a novel that focuses on villains in history and culture, examining both how they came to be considered evil and how people often idealize, or at least are interested in, the anti-hero. Klosterman discusses people labeled villains from OJ Simpson to Hitler to Morris Day, who serves as Prince’s rival in Purple Rain. Because Klosterman provides insight into what makes a person considered evil, I reference his argument in my poem, “IV. Origins,” which centers on the origin story of Adam and Eve. Klosterman states, “The villain is the person who knows the most, but cares the least,” and this claim is further supported in my poem “V. Pairs,” where I mention the villain Hyde’s utter indifference in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I do not fully agree with Klosterman’s definition of a villain; however, his argument does contribute to my larger definition of evil.

Magritte, René. The Treachery of Images, 1929, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treachery_of_Images. 

Magritte’s painting The Treachery of Images is another source where I did not encounter it in class or outside research, but rather, I thought of the painting organically while writing the poem. The painted quote, “Ceci n’est pas une pipe,” refers to the image of a pipe in the painting. Thus, Magritte argues that an image of pipe—more specifically, a painting of a pipe—is not the same as an actual pipe. I use this idea to discuss Goya’s Black Paintings, which may be considered dark or evil to some, but I argue that paintings cannot represent evil because they are not conscious beings. This leads into my claim that only conscious beings with freewill can perform or even be evil.

Magritte, René. The Lovers II. 1928, Australian National Gallery. Renemagritte.org, https://www.renemagritte.org/the-lovers-2.jsp.

Magritte provides a strong message in The Lovers II, a painting which portrays two people kissing with sheets covering their faces. The sheets could symbolize an emotional distance between the two lovers despite their physical closeness, so I portray that separation in my poem, “After The Lovers II.”  I chose to break the poem into couplets, to represent the contrasting physical closeness and emotional distance between the lovers.

Mayer, Richard E. “Rote versus Meaningful Learning.” Theory into Practice, vol. 41, no. 2, 2002, pp. 226-32. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1207/s15430421tip4104_4.

I utilize Mayer’s article in my discussion on why educators often rely on the banking concept of education, which focuses on memorizing and recalling information. Mayer argues that meaningful learning is created not through memorization, but from higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy like “analyze” and “apply.” This leads into my argument that the baking model does not allow students to engage deeply with course content, and that dialogue is the key to critical thinking.

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Oxford University Press, 2008.

I read Paradise Lost for a DHC course on the representations of evil in society and culture, but I decided to reference it only once in my poem, “IV. Origins.” One of the main takeaways in Milton’s epic poem is that Eve holds the blame for the fall of man, due to her weakness in listening to the serpent and her sexual nature that tempts Adam toward sin. By referring to the male gaze through which this text was written, I complicate the idea of who decides where blame is placed on humans. I also muddy the waters of defining evil by later arguing against Milton’s blame on Eve, as I reference Klosterman’s Who Wears the Black Hat? which claims that the villain is the person who is knowledgeable but indifferent, which would be the serpent more so than Eve. My intertwining of canonical and contemporary texts allows me a wide range of argumentation on what makes a person evil.

Morrow, Weston. “This is Not a [Lecture].” Canvas Discussion, English 465, Winter 2019.

For Advanced Poetry Writing, my classmate, Wes Morrow, created a lecture and assignment based on Ruefle’s “Lectures I Will Never Give.” In his lecture, which is posted on a Canvas Instructure discussion board, Morrow engages with Ruefle and others in a conversation how to write poetry. I reference him in my own lecture, as I attempt to define and explain how to write poetry. Like Morrow, I do not draw certain conclusions, but rather, I try to continue asking questions and posing new ideas. In addition, my structure reflects the same fragmented format used by Morrow.

Murakami, Haruki. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. New York, Vintage International, 1993. 

Murakami’s novel lays the foundation for two projects of mine, “Conscious Beasts: Poems” and “The Maze.” I quote the novel sporadically throughout the poems in “Conscious Beasts,” but both projects rely more heavily on allusions to images and concepts within the novel, including bones, rain, waterfalls, and the idea of consciousness. As the book embodies themes within postmodernism, I try to make both projects non-linear, intertextual, and meta-fictional, the last of which occurs more so in “The Maze.”

Nooteboom, Cees, and Max Neumann. Self-Portrait of an Other. Translated by David Colmer, Seagull Books, 2012.

Self-Portrait of an Other is a collaborative work consisting of Dutch wrtier Cees Nooteboom’s dream-like poems and German painter Neumann’s surreal artwork. In my essay on the role of imagery in Surrealist works, Nooteboom’s and Neumann’s work serves as a supportive example. The book is very Surreal in terms of the strange, imaginative descriptions written by Nooteboom, and the abstract visual images by Neumann. Furthermore, the book not only contains Surrealist themes, but also demonstrates how words and images converse in ekphrasis. Nooteboom’s and Neumann’s work is thus useful in my analytical essay on the relationship between Surrealism and ekphrasis.

Picasso, Pablo. Girl Before a Mirror. 1932, Modern Museum of Art, New York City. MoMA.org, https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78311.

This painting has very Surreal, ambiguous imagery and use of shapes and colors. To imitate the image of the girl looking at her reflection, which differs greatly from what she looks like, I broke the poem, “After Girl Before a Mirror,” into two columns to represent the girl (left column) and her reflection, or alter-ego (right column). I interpreted the girl in the painting as being afraid of her reflection, which shows a girl painted with darker shades, so I wrote a dialogue between the two. The poem can be read linearly, like a traditional poem, or it can be read within each respective column; thus, it is technically three poems in one—a contrapuntal.

Ruefle, Mary. Madness, Rack, and Honey. Wave Books, 2012.

My lecture, “Not-a-Lecture,” is inspired largely by Ruefle’s Madness, Rack, and Honey—particularly, the essays “Madness, Rack, and Honey,” and “Lectures I Will Never Give.” Ruefle’s creative essays incorporate poetic elements, often jumping between ideas. I attempt to mimic this structure in my own lecture by dividing it into sections that move between topics and quotes. Moreover, similar to the essay “Madness, Rack and Honey,” my lecture attempts define poetry and its connection to the mind.

Shor, Ira, et al. “Dialogic & Critical Pedagogies: An Interview with Ira Shor.” Dialogic Pedagogy: An International Online Journal, vol. 5, 2017, pp. 1-21. ERIC, doi:10.5195/dpj.2017.208.

Dr. Ira Shor is a professor of rhetoric and composition at the College of Staten Island, and his teaching methods have been influenced by Paulo Freire. More specifically, in this interview, Shor discusses the necessity of dialogue in the classroom, which begins with the teacher knowing their students before they can begin teaching them. This idea aligns with my primary claim that education must be personalized for all students, making their learning more meaningful and long-lasting. In addition, Shor’s explanation of Freire’s scaffoled literacy programs adds practical evidence to my argument about innovative writing assignments being useful for critical thinking. Just as both Freire and Shor advocate for using familiar concepts in unfamiliar ways, I maintain that creative writing is a useful way to write about new concepts in a form that may be more well-suited for the student than an academic essay.

Stein, Gertrude. Tender Buttons. The Project Gutenberg, 2005, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15396/15396-h/15396-h.htm. 

My project, “Hybrid Forms: Gender and Genre,” is partially based on Stein’s Tender Buttons, a collection of prose poems, and some of my pieces are ekphrastic responses Stein’s work. For example, after reading the section “A LONG DRESS” in Tender Buttons, I drew and painted an image that came to mind while reading Stein’s writing. I interpret Stein’s purpose as being to write about everyday objects with a new lens, as she rethinks her position as a woman in the household. Moreover, Stein’s work invites readers to rethink their perceptions of objects, so my ekphrastic response demonstrates how I am reacting to Stein’s description.

Stevenson, Robert. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. University of Nebraska Press, 1990.

Stevenson’s novella follows the account of Gabriel Utterson, who, after an investigation that lasts the majority of the story, discovers that Dr. Jekyll developed a concoction to separate good and evil into two identities. Thus, Dr. Jekyll takes the potion and serves as the “good” identity, and Mr. Hyde is formed as his alternate “evil identity.” As Hyde commits crimes, he becomes stronger and Jekyll grows weaker. Therefore, Stevenson poses an interesting idea on the concept of good and evil existing within one person, and how the increase of evil causes a weakening of good. I incorporate this idea into my series of poems on the concept of evil, and I allude to Jekyll and Hyde, specifically, in my final poem, “V. Pairs.” My final argument is that evil and good are intertwined, despite being opposites; there cannot be one without the other. Jekyll and Hyde serve as literary representations of the dualistic nature of humans.

Tanning, Dorothea. Birthday. 1942, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Surrealism: 50 Works of Art You Should Know, by Brad Finger, p. 101.

Tanning’s Birthday illustrates a topless woman with extravagant wear, but the elements of the painting that fascinate me most are the endless doors opening in the background, and the peculiar, winged animal next to the woman. In my poem, “After Birthday,” I focus on the doors, relating them back to a nightmare I have experienced frequently, since traditional Surrealists were often inspired by dreams and incorporated them into their work. In addition, I write about the winged animal in the painting, and in an attempt to utilize the imaginative nature of Surrealism, I wrote the speaker as having traded places with the animal, since it looks lost and afraid in the painting. To emphasize the conflict and isolation that the overall speaker of “Steel, Strings, and Other Supplies for Reconstruction” is experiencing, I decided to put the poem into prose form and indicate line breaks with slashes.

Titian. Adam and Eve. Ca. 1550, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

As my poem, “IV. Origins,” focuses on the origin story of humankind, I reference multiple depictions of Adam and Eve, including Titian’s painting. I explicitly mention the painting, describing how Adam tries to stop Eve from tasting the fruit, which reinforces the commonly portrayed idea that Eve is almost as evil as Satan himself because of her taking of the fruit. However, what especially stands out to me in the painting are the images of the half-child, half-serpent creature handing Eve the apple and the nearby fox watching the scene. I reference these images in my poem, taking account all the possible sources of blame in the image—Eve who takes the fruit, the creature who hands her the fruit, Adam who half-heartedly attempts to stop Eve, and the fox who watches. The goal of my poem, thus, is to complicate the origin story. 

Triana, Gabby. “Student-Centered Learning.” 2021, Google Slides presentation, https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FAr0mxCY0bBztLSkY1CMwXsETK22okyhxKAWgHzG9MM/edit?usp=sharing.

My presentation, “Student-Centered Learning,” provides a brief introduction to the student-centered learning model, as I describes its strengths and shortcomings. While I admittedly am not an expert on student-centered learning, I chose to cite my presentation in order to convey my preexisting interest in and advocacy for student-centered learning. I only quote myself once, referring to the importance of “socially and culturally relevant coursework,” which is a focus in the student-centered learning model.

Querol y Subirats, Austín. Sagunto. 1886, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

While visiting The Prado Museum, I wrote an ekphrastic poem in response to the sculpture Sagunto, which depicts a mother stabbing herself with the dagger she used to first kill her son. This poem complicates the definition of evil, because while some would see this sculpture and villainize the mother, the backstory is that she killed her son and herself to save them from being captured by Carthaginian soldiers. Thus, in a violent act, the mother protects her son and herself. I choose to embody the voice of the mother in my poem, as a way to justify her actions to readers, or at least urge them to empathize with her fear of Hannibal’s army.

Varo, Remedios. Letters, Dreams, and Other Writings. Wakefield Press, 2018.

While Varo’s collection of letters, notes, and exercises offered me inspiration while writing Surrealist poems, I only refer to her work briefly in my analytical essay on Surrealism and ekphrasis. Like many traditional Surrealists, Varo was heavily influenced by dreams in her creative work, which consisted both of writings and paintings. Thus, she demonstrates the interconnectedness of imagery and text in the Surrealist movement, supporting my argument that ekphrasis and Surrealism are linked despite being founded during separate time periods.

Yarborough, Chelsea. “Motivating Students.” Vanderbilt University, 2020, https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/motivating-students/#self.

This webpage introduces types of motivation in education, including intrinsic motivation. Since my argument centers on the value of student-centered learning, the concept of intrinsic motivation helps explain how student-led assignments benefit students, as they are driven by their own academic interests. Furthermore, after experiencing intrinsic motivation, students are more likely to exhibit agency in their coursework, helping them to become more independent learners.

Young, Vershawn Ashanti. “Should Writers Use They Own English?” Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 12, no. 1, 2010, pp. 110-117, https://ir.uiowa.edu/ijcs/vol12/iss1/10/.

In this article, Young discusses Stanley Fish’s writings that focus on using a dominant language—Standard English. Young argues that “standard language ideology” marginalizes people who speak differing dialects and teaches them that they cannot work in academia without using the dominant language. Moreover, Young poses “code meshing” as a way to blend dialects and allow writers to use their own language. These ideas relate to my main argument, which is that creative and innovative writing assignments are a way to make courses more inclusive and accessible to students of diverse dialects. Creative writing makes space for writers to manipulate, blend, and experiment with language, thus making the assignment centered on the individual.