Participation Type
Paper
Session Title
Session 6.08 Literature and Poetry
Presentation #1 Title
James Wright's Northern Appalachia
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Summary Statement: My paper considers the Ohio-Valley poems of James Wright, and seeks to situate Wright as a “Northern” Appalachian poet within the broader context of our current understanding of what constitutes Appalachian poetry, most discussions of which seem to focus mainly on Southern Appalachia. Abstract: Seemingly, critical discussions of Appalachian poetry tend to focus primarily on Southern Appalachia and major figures such as Jim Wayne Miller, James Still, Robert Morgan and others. But what of Northern Appalachia? Marita Garin’s introduction to the 2008 anthology Southern Appalachian Poetry outlines a handful of characteristic inherent in the poetry of that region. But what of Northern Appalachia? If we are to consider a “Northern” Appalachian poetry in similar ways that Southern Appalachian poetry has become regionalized and categorized, then James Wright’s Ohio-Valley poems are valid place to begin. Wright’s poetic imagination was rooted in Appalachia; he, himself, was not. Perhaps for this reason, as well as the apparent disdain for his hometown region expressed in his poetry, Wright is not characteristically labeled as an Appalachian poet in the truest sense of that moniker. Wright’s hometown poems depicting life in Martins Ferry, Ohio express his contentious and paradoxical relationship with his Northern Appalachian roots. As such, his attitude toward the region remains an ambiguous mix of nostalgia and critique mirrored in images of industrial blight and pastoral beauty. My consideration of Wright’s work seeks to open a general discussion comparing and contrasting Southern and Northern Appalachian poetry.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
I am an Assistant Professor of English at West Liberty University and a life-long resident of the Upper Ohio Valley. I received my PhD in Literature and Criticism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the spring of 2011.
James Wright's Northern Appalachia
Harris Hall 130
Summary Statement: My paper considers the Ohio-Valley poems of James Wright, and seeks to situate Wright as a “Northern” Appalachian poet within the broader context of our current understanding of what constitutes Appalachian poetry, most discussions of which seem to focus mainly on Southern Appalachia. Abstract: Seemingly, critical discussions of Appalachian poetry tend to focus primarily on Southern Appalachia and major figures such as Jim Wayne Miller, James Still, Robert Morgan and others. But what of Northern Appalachia? Marita Garin’s introduction to the 2008 anthology Southern Appalachian Poetry outlines a handful of characteristic inherent in the poetry of that region. But what of Northern Appalachia? If we are to consider a “Northern” Appalachian poetry in similar ways that Southern Appalachian poetry has become regionalized and categorized, then James Wright’s Ohio-Valley poems are valid place to begin. Wright’s poetic imagination was rooted in Appalachia; he, himself, was not. Perhaps for this reason, as well as the apparent disdain for his hometown region expressed in his poetry, Wright is not characteristically labeled as an Appalachian poet in the truest sense of that moniker. Wright’s hometown poems depicting life in Martins Ferry, Ohio express his contentious and paradoxical relationship with his Northern Appalachian roots. As such, his attitude toward the region remains an ambiguous mix of nostalgia and critique mirrored in images of industrial blight and pastoral beauty. My consideration of Wright’s work seeks to open a general discussion comparing and contrasting Southern and Northern Appalachian poetry.
