“Virtuoso[S] Of Departure”
This paper reads three poems on absence in the light of current theories of the object, hoping to clarify various trends in contemporary poetry’s relation to absence. The three poems, “Meditations at Lagunitas” by Robert Hass (1979), “Silverfish, Moth” by Matthew Francis (2014), and “Pipistrelles” b...
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| Format: | Article |
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Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"
2018-11-01
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| Series: | Sillages Critiques |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/7589 |
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| author | Sarah Bouttier |
| author_facet | Sarah Bouttier |
| author_sort | Sarah Bouttier |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper reads three poems on absence in the light of current theories of the object, hoping to clarify various trends in contemporary poetry’s relation to absence. The three poems, “Meditations at Lagunitas” by Robert Hass (1979), “Silverfish, Moth” by Matthew Francis (2014), and “Pipistrelles” by Kathleen Jamie (2004) are extremely different in the functions and connotations they ascribe to absence. However, common trends emerge in the readings: the stronger the presence of a persona, the less space is allowed to absence in the poems; poems preoccupied with absence proceed by flashes, featuring being as “vibratory” in that it is mostly absent from our human perspective yet discloses itself to us intermittently; and finally, language seems at no point to be conceived as erasing the presence of its referee, or unable to refer to the ineffable: absence, in those poems, occurs in spite of words rather than because of them. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-153067a813274358b21a1fe9458526e8 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1272-3819 1969-6302 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2018-11-01 |
| publisher | Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sillages Critiques |
| spelling | doaj-art-153067a813274358b21a1fe9458526e82025-01-30T13:47:03ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022018-11-012510.4000/sillagescritiques.7589“Virtuoso[S] Of Departure”Sarah BouttierThis paper reads three poems on absence in the light of current theories of the object, hoping to clarify various trends in contemporary poetry’s relation to absence. The three poems, “Meditations at Lagunitas” by Robert Hass (1979), “Silverfish, Moth” by Matthew Francis (2014), and “Pipistrelles” by Kathleen Jamie (2004) are extremely different in the functions and connotations they ascribe to absence. However, common trends emerge in the readings: the stronger the presence of a persona, the less space is allowed to absence in the poems; poems preoccupied with absence proceed by flashes, featuring being as “vibratory” in that it is mostly absent from our human perspective yet discloses itself to us intermittently; and finally, language seems at no point to be conceived as erasing the presence of its referee, or unable to refer to the ineffable: absence, in those poems, occurs in spite of words rather than because of them.https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/7589AbsenceContemporary Poetry in EnglishObject-oriented ontologyRobert HassMatthew FrancisKathleen Jamie |
| spellingShingle | Sarah Bouttier “Virtuoso[S] Of Departure” Sillages Critiques Absence Contemporary Poetry in English Object-oriented ontology Robert Hass Matthew Francis Kathleen Jamie |
| title | “Virtuoso[S] Of Departure” |
| title_full | “Virtuoso[S] Of Departure” |
| title_fullStr | “Virtuoso[S] Of Departure” |
| title_full_unstemmed | “Virtuoso[S] Of Departure” |
| title_short | “Virtuoso[S] Of Departure” |
| title_sort | virtuoso s of departure |
| topic | Absence Contemporary Poetry in English Object-oriented ontology Robert Hass Matthew Francis Kathleen Jamie |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/7589 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sarahbouttier virtuososofdeparture |