Date of Award

2014

Call Number

PS3603.E77 C65 2014

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Stonecoast

First Advisor

Jeanne Marie Beaumont

Second Advisor

Justin Tussing, Interim Director

Third Advisor

Lynn M. Kuzma, Dean

Keywords

Stonecoast MFA, emotional, academic journey, Sandra Cisneros, family relationships

Abstract

Coming to Terms, by Kathleen Cerveny, is a collection of poems exploring loss: of a long-term romantic relationship, of parents, and of youth. Taken together, the poems describe a journey through a range of emotions and the missteps and triumphs along the way. Dreams figure importantly in the collection. Dream-culled imagery is used to explore and express what is often hidden, suppressed, or actively denied in the face of loss. Sound and rhythm are consistent lyric elements throughout as are the use of assonance, alliteration, slant and internal rhyme. There is attention paid, but not slavish adherence to, metrical patterns. Most poems are written in free verse, but the collection includes a sonnet, two villanelles, and a pantoum. There is humor here, giving some relief to the overall somber nature of the work, and several poems inspired by the work of others. In all, the collection chronicles the efforts of a woman in her later years, struggling through both unanticipated and routine life changes and making her way to a place of new beginning.

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