Dissertation Defenses

Doctoral Dissertation Announcement

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Candidate: Byoungkook Park

Degree of: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: English

Title: The Biographic and Poetic Dimensions in Gary Synder’s Green Buddhism Poetry: Cold Mountain Poems, Mountains and Rivers Without End, and Danger on Peaks

Committee:
Dr. Daneen Wardrop, Chair
Dr. W. Arnold Johnston
Dr. Gwen Athene Tarbox
Dr. Jil Larson
Brother Anthony of Taize

Date: Tuesday, July 3, 2007 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Emeriti Lounge, Walwood Hall

Abstract:
From the perspective of ecology, many scholars have examined works of Gary Synder, who is an environmental activist, a peasant Buddhist, and one of the most beloved and significant poets in the East and West. While his poems have been read widely, they have rarely been articulated from the perspective of East Asian Mahayana Buddhism. Considering this, my dissertation focuses on Synder’s Green Buddhism poetry and delineates the concept of Green Buddhism and how it has emerged in his Green Buddhism poetry over the past fifty years. According to my research, his poetic dimensions can be divided into three (or four), and each dimension is closely related to his biography. Based on this, the concept of Green Buddhism will be discussed at the beginning of my dissertation. Then, each chapter focuses on representative poetry collections by following his biographic and poetic periods: Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems (1965), Mountains and Rivers Without End (1977), and Danger on Peaks (2004). My study points to ways in which Gary Synder encourages readers to live harmoniously with and within nature.