Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.
J E N N Y L. W H I T E "T rust the place to form the voice," writes Susan Howe, suggesting that the voice of the poet is linked intrinsically to the location from which that voice emerges (Birth-Mark 156). In her poem "Thorow," which is "about" Lake George, New York, Howe constructs both a place and a voice that are contested, conflicted, and multiple. The poem explicitly references--and reworks--the landscapes of Thoreau, and more importantly, I argue, of James Fenimore Cooper. The title, "Thorow," refers not only to Henry David Thoreau but also to the historical search for a "thorow," or through, navigable passageway in the Northeast. Thus the title signals the poem's engagement with the history of exploration, and ensuing colonialism and national expansion, as well as its engagement with literary history. Howe's references to Cooper, previously overlooked in discussions of this poem, provide a framework for connecting these two divergent meanings of the title.1 The setting for Cooper's novel 1. Several critics have discussed the ideas of place, history, and intertextuality in "Thorow" (as well as in Howe's work more generally), but none have suggested the importance of Cooper for understanding this poem.
Contemporary Literature – University of Wisconsin Press
Published: Sep 25, 2006
Read and print from thousands of top scholarly journals.
Already have an account? Log in
Bookmark this article. You can see your Bookmarks on your DeepDyve Library.
To save an article, log in first, or sign up for a DeepDyve account if you don’t already have one.
Copy and paste the desired citation format or use the link below to download a file formatted for EndNote
Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
All DeepDyve websites use cookies to improve your online experience. They were placed on your computer when you launched this website. You can change your cookie settings through your browser.