Barnburner

• Other Authors: Hoover, Erin (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_2017SP_Hoover_fsu_0071E_13671

There is no namesake figure in the dissertation manuscript, Barnburner, and no single "Barnburner" poem appears. Instead, the poems reflect a specific modern mindset. The concept "barnburner" was popularized in the mid-nineteenth century as the name of a faction of anti-corporate and anti-slavery New York State Democrats eager for radical reform, their desire for change-at-all-costs apparently alluding to the legend of the old Dutchman who would burn down his barn to rid it of an infestation of rats. Although not used widely in the contemporary context, I argue that "barnburner" in its traditional usage describes a discursive mode that has become widespread in the twenty-first century, in which political and personal commitment is understood as belonging to the person or entity willing to risk it all. Though written before the 2016 U.S. election, many of the poems in Barnburner address some of the themes that have emerged, including the complication of intersectional identities of class, race, region, and gender; the disconnection many Americans feel from their labor; and the ephemeral nature of "truth" in digital realities. This is an explicitly political book, and one that recommits to the first-person narrative. In many ways an extension of the project of the confessional poets, the poems of Barnburner connect the figures of history—understood as both personal and collective—to the workings of an emotional inner life, and represent a "re-visioning" of experience bound to social, economic, and political realities. === A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Spring Semester 2017. === January 18, 2017. === Includes bibliographical references. === Erin Belieu, Professor Directing Dissertation; Donna Nudd, University Representative; Andrew Epstein, Committee Member; James Kimbrell, Committee Member.