A Thematic Study Of Tracy K.smith's Poetry

By carefully reading,this thesis comprehensively combs and studies the poetry of Tracy K.Smith(1972-),the African American Poet Laureate,and summarizes her poetics and writing strategies.Through sorting and analyzing Smith's four collections of poetry,this thesis draws a conclusion that Smith's poems present three different themes as a whole,namely,the theme of freedom,the theme of history and the theme of justice.The theme of freedom mainly explores the poet's pursuit and persistence of physical freedom and spiritual freedom.The theme of history discusses the past historical events.The theme of justice talks about the ethical and moral relationship between man and nature,man and man.Although these three themes have different focuses,they reveal Smith's overall poetics that poetry is a living force.This thesis consists of the following five parts.The introduction first briefly introduces the success of Poet Laureate Tracy K.Smith and the important comments on her books.At the same time,special attention is paid to the statements on the themes of her works.Second,the literature review is organized by summarizing the comments on themes and poetry,in order to find out the research gap at present.Finally,research methodology and purpose are briefly introduced.The first chapter mainly discusses the theme of freedom in Smith's poetry.She writes about the fate of women and the black.Under patriarchy and racism,they hardly control their physical freedom: women,in some degree,are the subjects to satisfy the sexual needs of men;the blacks still hardly escape the shadow of slavery.In order to alleviate physical pain,they believe in spiritual freedom: becoming self and believing in God,and both are spiritual support for them to have a higher being.The second chapter mainly explores the theme of history in Smith's poetry.In her poetry,Smith re-examines history,records and redescribes some historical events.On the one hand,Smith listens to the voices of the public,and writes about the “small” history that reflects the real life of individuals;on the other hand,the poet focuses on the national events and writes the“big” history concerning nation and society.Smith not only takes into account the roles ofindividuals in history but also cares about the development of the nation,which shows the poet's writing strategy is to connect the past to the present.The third chapter mainly discusses the theme of justice in Smith's poetry.Smith always concerns herself about justice: environmental justice and social justice.On the one hand,she notices that the harmonious relation between man and nature needs environmental justice,and injustice would destroy the harmonious relationship of both sides.As a result,Smith advocates that,it is necessary for humanity to reestablish the relation of man and nature.On the other hand,Smith criticizes social injustice,and argues that social justice requires people's goodness and love.Finally,the conclusion gives a general overview and summary of the thematic study of Smith's poetry.It fully affirms Smith's poetics on freedom,history,and justice.