Shimming the Glass House

• Other Authors: Wallace, Helen (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: English literature
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-1357

Shimming the Glass House is a collection of poems, many of which address what the title suggests: an attempt to balance what is, by nature, fragile. Whether dealing with personal relationships, or mortality, or the quirky ways we try to shape our lives, these poems, written in both free verse and in formal traditions, suggest that language, reaching out through words, can be a trans formative process—a way to understand and perhaps even support a world continually off kilter. The poems collected here explore what it means to accept our tenuous conditions; to live with the recognition that maybe our desire alone has to be good enough, unquenchable and mysterious though it is. Maybe desire, as expressed through language, is all we really have to balance, what remains essentially, a glass house. === A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Spring Semester, 2003. === April 4, 2003. === Poetry === Includes bibliographical references. === Sheila Ortiz-Taylor, Professor Directing Dissertation; Brenda Cappuccio, Outside Committee Member; Janet Burroway, Committee Member; David Kirby, Committee Member.