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Article: The gift of the poem: Mallarme and Robert Duncan's Ground Work: before the war.(Stephane Mallarme, French symbolist)(Critical essay)
- Article from:
- The Modern Language Review
- Article date:
- April 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Modern Humanities Research Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ABSTRACT
Robert Duncan's poetry is conventionally read in the context of the Black Mountain school of poetry or the San Francisco Renaissance of the 1950s. However, his work is also deeply involved with that of the French symbolist Stephane Mallarme. While Mallarme informs much of Duncan's writing, notably the metaphors of interruption and dictation central to his poetics, a cluster of Duncan's poems from the mid-70s gives us an important insight into the procedures of his final Ground Work volumes, illuminating his changing notion of the poem as 'gift'.
Des paroles inconnues chanterent-elles sur vos levres, lambeaux maudits d'une phrase absurde?
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