Journal article
Write into the unsayable: Apophatic strategy in poetic practice
Axon, Vol.7(2)
2017
Abstract
Poet Alice Notley once remarked, ‘like many writers I feel ambivalent about words, I know they don't work, I know they aren't it’ (Notley 2010: n.pag.). Over centuries, in both East and West, poets, mystics, philosophers, and worshippers have developed a semantics of negation—apophasis—to deal with what lies beyond language, to draw closer to uttering what cannot be said. As part of my PhD research I am experimenting with apophasis as a poetic strategy, exploring representations (in both poetic form and content) of absence through space, silence, and denial. Taking Notley’s statement as a reference point, this paper contemplates, from a practitioner perspective and through examples of my creative work, the idea that every poem is an attempt to write into the unsayable.
Details
- Title
- Write into the unsayable: Apophatic strategy in poetic practice
- Authors/Creators
- M. Webster (Author/Creator)
- Publication Details
- Axon, Vol.7(2)
- Publisher
- Univerty of Canberra. Faculty of Arts and Design
- Identifiers
- 991005541064607891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Arts
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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