Senior Project Advisor
Jane Wong
Document Type
Project
Publication Date
Spring 2022
Keywords
Poetry, ars poetica, extinction, fossil, creative writing, autobiographical poetry, chapbook
Abstract
About the Dark Times is a chapbook of seventeen poems documenting the author's experience of the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically the Omicron wave which affected the Pacific Northwest from January 2022 to February 2022. Themes include the impact of isolation on the author's self-identity, academic success, and mental health. The chapbook is separated into three sections: 'Poetry for the Miocene,' 'Poetry for the Late Cretaceous,' and 'Poetry for the Permian.' Fossilized animals and periods of mass extinction throughout the earth's history are used in metaphor and comparison to the author's personal experience. The poems each include elements of ars poetica and use poetic techniques including repetition, alliteration, assonance, consonance, slant rhyme, enjambment, and rhythm. Over the course of the poems, the reader is introduced to the author's narrative meaning-making journey through and emerging out of the 'dark time' of the Omicron wave, and is encouraged to ask their own questions about their identity, their personal hardships, and their relationship to the natural world.
Department
English
Recommended Citation
Waggoner, Nadine, "About the Dark Times: Poetry for the Miocene" (2022). WWU Honors College Senior Projects. 564.
https://cedar.wwu.edu/wwu_honors/564
Subjects - Topical (LCSH)
COVID-19 (Disease)--Poetry
Genre/Form
chapbooks
Type
Text
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.
Language
English
Format
application/pdf