A Master's Thesis at the University of Basra entitled "Elegy as a Form of Historical Reclaiming: Memory, Erasure, and the African American Past in the Poetry of Tracy K. Smith"
The Master's thesis submitted by student Ahmed Ibrahim Ismail explored elegy as a form of historical reclaiming through a reading of a selection of Smith's poems, particularly her collection "Wading Through Water." The thesis examines how her poetry interacts with cultural shock, historical memory, erasure, and the impact of the African past on the present.
The thesis aims to demonstrate how elegy functions in Tracy K. Smith's poetry as a means of reclaiming history and memory, rather than simply expressing grief over death or loss. It also aims to clarify how painful historical experiences are reinterpreted through poetry, revealing voices and experiences that have been marginalized or erased from the historical narrative. The thesis also seeks to analyze the relationship between loss and absence, and to demonstrate how historical trauma persists in cultural memory. It further examines the poet's use of poetic techniques, such as erasure poetry and the re-application of historical documents, to reconstruct and evoke the past.
The significance of this study lies in its highlighting of the role that elegiac poetry can play in recovering historical memory and confronting erasure and oblivion. Tracy K. Smith's poetry is particularly important in offering a contemporary model of elegiac poetry that does not aim to provide solace or close the wounds of the past, but rather to revitalize memory through reflection on the enduring effects of trauma and loss. By combining studies of trauma, history, contemporary elegiac theories, and erasure studies, the study offers a multi-dimensional reading of Smith's poetry, illustrating how poetry can become a space for preserving memory from the perspective of the African American experience.
