McInnis, Nadine.2009-03-232009-03-2319921992Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 32-01, page: 0058.9780315800687http://hdl.handle.net/10393/7902http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-15554Dorothy Livesay's poetic exploration of love illuminates the relationship that exists between the individual woman artist and a culture shaped by men's experiences and stories. Chapter 1 surveys the critical treatment of Livesay's love poems, illustrating how theoretical superimposition can distort the subtext which gives the poems their energy and power. Chapter 2 analyses the thematic and imagistic portrayal of the love relationship present in the poems written during early womanhood, and establishes a link between sexuality and textuality. Chapter 3 explores the violent sexual/textual conflicts contained within the intensely erotic poems of Livesay's middle-age, framed by The Unquiet Bed (1967) and Disasters of the Sun (1971). Chapter 4 examines the resolution of these conflicts in the later poetry, starting with Ice Age (1975) and receiving clearest expression in Feeling the Worlds (1984). Livesay achieves a unified and unambiguous voice when she finds a way to unite her eroticism with her political concerns, and she ultimately succeeds in realizing a clear vision of her role as a woman writer.140 p.Literature, Canadian (English).Thesis