This semester, I'm taking a course in critical theory centering on the philosopher Martin Heidegger and the responses to his work, roughly since 1980. Heidegger writes extensively on language, interpretation, presence, and above all, Being. Paul de Man, one of the most influential theorists generally considered part of "post-structuralism," deals with many of these same topics, but in a much different way. My midterm in the class involved reading the following poem by the Scottish writer Burns Singer with these two philosophers in mind. But you don't have to go in to all that to appreciate it.
"A Sort of Language"
Who, when night nears, would answer for the patterns
Words will take on? emerging huge, far, shiny,
What unfrequented systems? Or like clouds
Unseen and hiding brightness, bringing rain,
Progressions that the wind drives on, drives after,
Who will say? I who have seen, seen many,
Imagining I scattered them abroad,
Starlight for Calvary and the immense equations
That drew to unity two who knew not either,
As to a hill at midnight, I have seen words,
Seen them with thanks too, shivering, become
Fragile and useless, pale as the steel sparks
Tramcars make waifs of when they round a corner.
[~1950?]
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Okay, this one is a trickier puzzle to parse and interpret (at least for me). I'd love to read what you wrote about it, if you're inclined to share.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part is in the last lines, being reminiscent of the electric buses and streetcars in San Francisco and Europe:
Fragile and useless, pale as the steel sparks
Tramcars make waifs of when they round a corner.
By the way, I googled the poem's title and author and the first search result was your blog!