Into the Digital Gardens: On the Cyberpastoral Poetics of Ander Monson and Dennis Hinrichsen

Abstract

This thesis aims to address the development of a ‘cyberpastoral’ poetic genre situated within the contemporary technological world, and how this genre carries and furthers the scope of the traditional pastoral genre to invite poets into a digital landscape where they may confront the presence of technology within their everyday lives to address and make familiar the relationship that exists between humans and technology. In close readings of two poems which emphasize the pervasive presence of technology, Ander Monson’s “For Orts” and Dennis Hinrichsen’s “[Loop Narcissus] [w/ and iPhone & the Euclidean Plane],” I examine how these poets utilize and operate within a cyberpastoral poetic genre to emphasize the human and technological/online relationship; act as a landscape of escape and reflection; and encourage further critical investigations into our human and digital existences.