Date of Award
6-1999
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
English
First Advisor
Dr. Shirley Clay Scott
Second Advisor
Dr. William Olsen
Abstract
The poems in this collection reflect Cardiff's bi-cultural Native American and Euro-American inheritance. The book title comes from a sixteenth century chronicle in which the native peoples of the Americas are seen as "simple gentiles" living under the "lawe of nature " . These narrative poems refute the Eurocentric notion that American Indians can be likened to a "bare table" or "a blank sheet of paper to be written upon ". The poem s celebrate her Indian heritage and also engage allusively with Western and Asian tradition s and conventions. Sometimes edgy, sometimes honorific, the juxtaposition of traditions in these poems is characterized b y integrative acts of consciousness an d lyric imagination. Cardiff's investigation of her role as an active observer of place, human nature, and artistic work is a major theme.
Access Setting
Dissertation-Open Access
Recommended Citation
Cardiff, Gladys, "A Bare Unpainted Table: A Manuscript of Poems" (1999). Dissertations. 1495.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/1495