Contributor Biographies
67
Hendren, Steph
Steph Hendren is a Junior majoring in English with intentions for graduate school. She chose her three poems for three very different reasons. For one, she is all in for a good fantasy story involving faeries. But the other two were chosen for the more serious questions they raised: how can love be both so alluring and painful at the same time? What makes us "civilized?" How does a country become developed and "proper"?
Lee, Meredith
Meredith Lee is a Senior majoring in Journalism and English with a certificate in European Studies. She’s from Houston, MN and loves writing, cooking and traveling. These selections from Horace, a celebrated lyric poet from Roman times, tell the story of ambition, love and friendship. As Thomas Drant translates Horace’s Latin morals and social anecdotes into English, we are able to connect with a centuries old author and land. The translation claims Latin history for the English language—asserting its superiority and incorporating Horace’s work into English literature.
McCray, Elise
Elise McCray is a senior history major from Naperville, IL. She chose Sonnet 34 and Sonnet 54 by Fulke Greville and Samuel Daniel respectively because they are compelling poems from within larger narratives, but when read on their own, allow the reader to imagine a narrative around them. Both poems are, on the surface, about love, but have deeper resonances about how love affects innocence and dignity. Michael Drayton’s poem from the Poly-Olbion was chosen because it serves as more of a poetic introduction to the collection of works describing the origins and topography of Britain and ushers the reader into the scientific but also mythical historical narrative of the collection.
Parish, Christian
Christian Parish is a senior majoring in Linguistics and Spanish from the smaller community of Waupun, WI. He chose his poems because of the extent they deal with the self and memory. His poems capture a sense of nostalgia but also serve to question the significance of the present. A severe sense of present anxiety seems to come from this nostalgia, giving the poems a tone of urgency for change and also a tone of empathy for life’s perils.